


When in Doubt, Talk to Your Dad

by acmparker



Series: You're a Parent, Severus [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Gen, Harry Potter was raised by Remus Lupin and Severus Snape, Lily Potter and Severus Snape have a blood bond, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Severitus | Severus Snape is Harry Potter's Parent, Severus Snape Adopts Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-06 05:54:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17339795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acmparker/pseuds/acmparker
Summary: Severus Snape had formed a Blood Bond with Lily Evans when they  were at Hogwarts. This means that when Lily dies there is another whose blood relationship with her is recognized by the blood ward Dumbledore places on Harry. Severus Snape decides to check on how the Dursleys are treating Harry, about a month after Lily's death, and isn't pleased with what he finds. With the help of Remus Lupin, Severus has been caring for Harry ever since.Harry has finished his first year at Hogwarts without anyone discovering that he is living with Severus and Remus instead of the Dursleys. Although Harry chose to let Ron and Hermione in on his secret over the Christmas Holidays. His second year is about to begin.





	1. Visit From a House-Elf

**Author's Note:**

> All italics are a direct quote from the books.
> 
> I stray farther from canon in Harry's second year than I did in his first year.

Harry drifted into the living room, like a small dark cloud, and collapsed on the couch beside Lupin with a sigh.

 

“Still haven’t heard from Ron?” asked Moony sympathetically.

 

“Nothing, and Hermione said she sent me a letter at the beginning of summer and it hasn’t shown up either. She also said that my letters haven’t reached her either, so Ron probably hasn’t got any of the letters I’ve sent him. That means that he won’t have gotten the invitation to my birthday party.”

 

“Did you invite Hermione when you talked to her?”

 

“Of course, she said she had to ask her parents. They’ll probably phone this evening to talk to you and Dad about it. I hope she can come. With Emily away on a trip with her family and Ron unreachable she’s the only one who I could invite. If she can’t come this will be the worst birthday ever!” Harry sighed again, dramatically.

 

“I’m sure that Hermione will be able to come,” Moony reassured the unhappy boy. “And I’ll see about getting in touch with the Weasley’s for you. We don’t want Ron and his brothers mounting some sort of half baked rescue attempt because they haven’t heard from you in a while.”

 

Harry brightened up. “Thank’s Moony. Hey, Ron said he would invite me to his place this summer. If he does, can I go?”

 

“Of course you can.”

 

“I’d better go and make sure my homework is all finished then. I don’t want to have to worry about it when I’m at Ron’s place.”

 

Moony watched Harry run off and then went to find Severus. They had some work to do to make sure that their son had a good birthday.

 

Harry woke up early on his Birthday. He was excited to have Hermione coming, although he still wished that he had been able to invite Ron.

 

“Happy Birthday, Harry,” Snape greeted the boy, as he entered the kitchen . “I made your favorite breakfast.”

 

“Thanks, Dad. Where’s Moony?”

 

“He went to get something for your party. He’ll be back before it starts.”

 

After breakfast, Harry and his dad finished getting things ready for the party. After they had iced the cake, red and gold with a Quidditch theme, Snape disapparated away to fetch Hermione while Harry wandered into the back yard to wait. He sat down on a garden bench and thought about the mystery of his missing letters. He was happy that Hermione was coming to his party but he wished he could have had Ron there as well. He missed both of his friends and he had been looking forward to seeing them again. Moony had said he was going to get in touch with the Weasley’s but as far as Harry knew he hadn’t had any success yet.

 

_ Harry suddenly sat bolt upright on the garden bench. He had been staring absentmindedly into the hedge - and the hedge was staring back. Two enormous green eyes had appeared among the leaves. _

 

Harry jumped to his feet just as he heard the crack of his dad and Hermione apparating into the yard. He spun around to greet them forgetting about the eyes in the hedge.

 

Snape ushered the two children back into the house in time to see Ron emerge from the fireplace, shortly followed by Lupin.

 

“Happy Birthday, Harry!” Ron said, grinning at the surprise on Harry’s face. “Moony called us on the Floo a few days ago to invite me and then came over this morning to pick me up. He told my parents that you were staying with him for your birthday. I’m staying over tonight and then you’re coming home with me to spend the rest of the summer. It’s going to be wizard!”

 

Harry looked at Mooney, who smiled and nodded at him.

 

“That’s great! Is Hermione going to visit too?”

 

“Unfortunately, my parents aren’t willing to let me visit Ron when they haven’t been able to talk to his parents yet. Maybe next year.” Hermione handed Harry the present she had brought. “Open my present now. I want to be able to play it with you.”

 

Harry opened the gift to find a game of CLUE. Harry knew about the game but had never played it and Ron had never even heard of it. As Hermione explained the game Ron protested.

 

“What do you mean that anyone could have commited the murder. If my character had done it, wouldn’t I know? I mean if I commited murder I think I would remember it.”

 

“That’s just how the game works, Ron. It doesn’t have to make sense. After all most of the wizarding world doesn’t make any sense.”

 

Ron opened his mouth to respond, hesitated and then shrugged and said, “You have a point. Let’s play.”

 

The three friends played several games, pulling Moony in as well after a couple of games. Moony and Harry started role playing their characters, wildly protesting their innocence when they were accused. Ron then joined in as well, while Hermione took advantage of their distraction to win the next few games. When this paled they moved on to other games, both muggle and wizard, after stopping for lunch and birthday cake. It was the best birthday Harry had ever had.

 

After Hermione had to leave, the two boys headed up to Harry’s bedroom while they waited for supper. When they got up there they found that there was already someone in the room.

 

“You have a house-elf?” Ron asked.

 

“No, I don’t know who this is,” replied Harry, puzzled.

 

_ The creature slipped off the bed and bowed so low that the end of its long, thin nose touched the carpet. _

 

“Hello,” said Harry.

 

_ “Harry Potter!” said the creature in a high-pitched voice. “So long has Dobby wanted to meet you sir … Such an honour it is. …” _

 

“Who are you?” asked Harry.

 

_ “Dobby, sir. Just Dobby. Dobby the house-elf,” said the creature. _

 

“Why are you here? Who sent you?” asked Ron.

 

_ “Dobby has come to tell you, sir …”  _ Dobby continued to speak to Harry,  _ “it is difficult, sir …  Dobby wonders where to begin. …” _

 

“Why don’t you sit down,” said Harry politely, pointing at the bed.

 

_ To his horror, the elf burst into tears. _

 

_ “S-sit down!” he wailed. Never … never ever … Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a wizard - like and equal …” _

 

“If all house-elves are like this then I’m glad we don’t have one.” remarked Ron.

 

“Ron, don’t be rude,” Harry said absently, his attention still on the house-elf. “You still haven’t told me why you’re here, Dobby.”

 

_ Dobby leaned toward Harry, his eyes wide as headlights. _

 

_ “Dobby heard tell,” he said hoarsely, “that Harry Potter met the Dark Lord for a second time, just weeks ago … that Harry Potter escaped yet again.” _

 

_ Harry nodded and Dobby’s eyes suddenly shone with tears. _

 

_ “Ah, sir,” he gasped, dabbing his face with a corner of the grubby pillowcase he was wearing. “Harry Potter is valiant and bold! He has braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Harry Potter, to warn him, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later. Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts.” _

 

“You must be mental,” said Ron. “Harry has to go back to Hogwarts. It’s not like his dads are going to let him just stay home. Besides, without him we don’t have a hope of winning any Quidditch games this year.”

 

“Nice to know that you would miss me, Ron,” said Harry with a mock glare.

 

_ “No, no, no,” squeaked Dobby, shaking his head so hard his ears flapped. “Harry Potter must stay where he is safe. He is too great, to good to lose. If Harry Potter goes back to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger.” _

 

_ “Why?” asked Harry in surprise. _

 

_ “There is a plot, Harry Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year,” whispered Dobby, suddenly trembling all over. “Dobby has known it for months, sir. Harry Potter must not put himself in peril. He is too important, sir!” _

 

_ “What terrible things?” asked Harry at once. “Who’s planning them?” _

 

_ Dobby made a funny choking noise and then banged his head frantically against the wall. _

 

“Stop, why are you hurting yourself?”

 

_ “Dobby had to punish himself, sir,” said the elf.  _ “Dobby should not be here, telling you these things. Dobby will have to punish himself for this. If Dobby’s family knew, sir -”

 

_ “But why are you warning me?” A sudden unpleasant thought struck him. “Hang on - this hasn’t got anything to do with You-Know-Who has it? You could just shake or nod,” he added hastily as Dobby’s head tilted worryingly close to the wall again. _

 

_ Slowly Dobby shook his head. _

 

_ “Not  - not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, sir -” _

 

_ But Dobby’s eyes were wide and he seemed to be trying to give Harry a hint. Harry however was completely lost. _ Harry looked over at Ron and saw that he was just as lost.

 

“Well if it isn’t You-Know-Who then I can’t think of anyone else who would have a chance of making horrible things happen at Hogwarts,” said Harry.

 

“Yeah,” said Ron, “Dumbledore would stop them.”

 

_ Dobby bowed his head. _

 

_ “Albus Dumbledore is the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. Dobby knows it, sir. Dobby has heard Dumbledore’s powers rival those of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the height of his strength, But, sir” - Dobby’s voice dropped to an urgent whisper - “there are powers Dumbledore doesn’t … powers no decent wizard …” _

 

_ And before Harry could stop him, Dobby bounded off the bed, seized Harry’s desk lamp, and started beating himself around the head with earsplitting yelps.  _

 

“Is everything alright up there?” Severus called as he came up the stairs.

 

“Dad! I think you need to see this.” Harry opened the door for his dad but when he turned around Dobby was gone.

 

“What did you want me to see, and did it have something to do with all the noise you two were making?” asked Severus as he came into the room.

 

“There was a house-elf named Dobby here. He was trying to stop me from going back to Hogwarts. He says that it’s too dangerous, that horrible things are going to happen there this year. The noise was him hitting himself with my lamp after telling me that. Apparently he was here without the permission of his wizards.”

 

Ron spoke up. “I think Dobby was sent here as a practical joke. I bet he’s the Malfoy’s house elf and Draco was trying to scare Harry. He would love it if Harry didn’t come back to Hogwarts.”

 

Severus frowned. “You’re probably right, Ron, but I think we should take the warning seriously. After what happened last year I don’t want to take any chances.

 

“You’re not going to keep me from going back to school, are you?” cried Harry.

 

“Of course not. After all I will be there to keep an eye on you, but you must promise me that you will stay out of things that don’t concern you. I don’t want a repeat of last year.”

 

“I promise, Dad. I will tell you about anything I stumble across, and let you handle it.”

“Good. Now you had better pack up your stuff if you’re going to go to Ron’s tomorrow.”

 

Later that night, when the two boys were settled into bed, Harry had a thought.

 

“Do you think Dobby was the one stopping my letters? Maybe he thought it would discourage me from going back to Hogwarts if I didn’t get any letters over the summer.”

 

“Probably,” yawned Ron. “House-elves have powerful magic, he definitely could have done it. Draco would love it if you weren’t getting any letters. Especially since he thinks you live with those muggles.”


	2. Visiting the Weasleys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry visits Ron and goes to Diagon Alley for his second year school supplies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are direct quotes from the books.

The next morning, Mr. Weasley arrived to pick up Harry and Ron in a old Ford Anglia, accompanied by the twins.

“All right, Harry?” asked George as he came into the house with Fred right behind him. The two teens then stopped short at the sight of Snape standing by the door to the kitchen, glaring at them.

“As if it wasn’t enough, having Potter here. He’s all packed up and ready to go so there is no need to linger.”

“Now Sevy love, be polite,” said Lupin. “Hello Arthur, how are things at the ministry?”

As Mr. Weasley and Lupin talked, the twins helped Harry carry his trunk out to the car. They arrived back in just in time to hear Snape speak.

“Thank you for inviting Potter to stay with you for the rest of the summer, Arthur. If you hadn't Remus might have felt it was necessary to have him stay here.” He looked horrified at the very idea.

Harry rolled his eyes at his dad and ran over to give Moony a hug. “Goodbye Moony, thank you for having me over.”

No one noticed Fred and George startled expressions when they heard Lupin's nickname.

Harry then turned to Snape. “Goodbye Professor, I’ll see you when the school year starts.”

“Please, don’t remind me.” Snape said with a pained expression on his face.

The boys were quiet until they were in the car.

“I don’t know how you can stand staying there, Harry. Snape is absolutely poisonous.” Fred exclaimed as they drove away from the house.

“Oh, he’s not that bad. He mostly just avoids me while I’m there and Moony is really nice. Anyways, it’s better than when I’m with my relatives. I think they hate me even more than Professor Snape does and there’s no Moony there.”

Ron snorted and Harry dug his elbow into the other boy’s side. Mr. Weasley glanced at Harry with concern and then said.

“We’re very happy to have you visiting us, Harry. Ron has told us so much about you and I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. I hope you know that you are welcome at our home any time you need a place to stay.”

Fred and George had started whispering to each other when Harry mentioned Moony. They seemed to be arguing about something. Harry overheard George say, “He can't be the same one. He lives with Snape for Merlin's sake!”

Fred gasped, “What if Snape was one of the Marauders! He couldn’t have been!.”

“But what if he was!? We need to find out!”

Both boys then turned to Harry.

“Harry, did Mr. Lupin ever talk to you about his time at Hogwarts?”

Harry nodded, unsure of what this was about.

“Did he mention friends called Prongs, Padfoot or Wormtail at all?”

“Or anything about the Marauders?”

Fred and George waited expectantly.

“Yes,” Harry said, “Prongs was my father, so Moony’s told me a lot of stories about him. He sometimes talks about Wormtail as well, but he doesn't really like to talk about Padfoot.”

Fred and George looked at each other and then back at Harry. “Your dad was Prongs!? This is great! We've got something to show you when we're back at Hogwarts. Er … Snape wasn’t one of the Marauders, was he?”

Harry laughed, “No he wasn’t. In fact they didn’t really get along while they were at Hogwarts.”

Harry was delighted by his first sight of the Weasley’s house. Even though he had grown up with magic, they had always had to be careful to keep the public areas of the house looking normal to their muggle friends and neighbours. The Weasley’s isolation had left them with no such limitations. The house had obviously been expanded many times from the original small structure with rooms added here or there with no regard for the laws of physics. It looked as though it were held up by magic, which it probably was. The picture was completed by the jumble of rubber boots by the front door and the chickens pecking their way around the yard.

“It’s not much,” said Ron.

“It’s wonderful,” said Harry happily. The house exuded the same sense of welcome and acceptance, and exuberant magic, that the Weasleys did.

As they pulled up to the house, Mrs. Weasley came out to greet them.

“I’m very pleased to see you, Harry dear,” she said. “Come in and have some lunch?”

Harry followed Mrs. Weasley into the house and sat down in the small kitchen. He looked around, enjoying the cheerful clutter surrounding him. Soon everyone was seated at the table as Mrs. Weasley served lunch. Percy and Ginny joined them with some prodding from the twins. Ginny was very quiet and blushed whenever Harry spoke to her.

After lunch Ron took Harry up to his room. Every surface in the room was decorated with posters of Ron’s favorite Quidditch team the Chuddley Cannons. Harry looked around the small, messy room.

“It’s a bit small,” said Ron quickly. “Not like your room at home. And I’m right underneath the ghoul in the attic; he’s always banging on the pipes and groaning.”

But Harry, grinning widely, said, “This is the best house I’ve ever been in.”

Rons’ ears went pink.

Harry enjoyed his time at the Burrow. There was a lot that was different than he was used to. Life at home was a lot quieter, with only three people living there. There was always something happening at the Weasley’s house. If things ever did get quiet, the ghoul in the attic would howl and drop pipes to liven things up. The small explosions that came from Fred and George’s room made Harry feel right at home, though. When his dad was around explosions from his workroom were not an unusual occurrence. It was all part of experimenting with new potions. Harry especially enjoyed being around the Weasleys.

Harry had fun helping Ron with his chores, like degnoming the garden. The boys, except for Percy, who was still spending most of his time in his room, spent a lot of time practicing Quidditch, as well. The Weasleys had a small paddock that was surrounded by trees so that they could fly there, without being spotted by the muggles. It was one of the best summer’s Harry had ever had.

When Harry and Ron went down to breakfast, almost two weeks after Harry arrived at the Burrow, Mr. Weasley had some mail for them.

“Letters from school,” said Mr. Weasley, passing Harry and Ron identical envelopes of yellowish parchment, addressed in green ink. “Dumbledore already knows you’re here, Harry - doesn’t miss a trick that man. You two’ve got them, too,” he added as Fred and George ambled in, still in their pajamas.

Harry wondered about Mr. Weasley’s assumption, that his letter arriving at the Burrow meant that Dumbledore knew that he was there. As far as Harry knew the letters were addressed magically and there was no reason for Dumbledore to know where they were addressed to. Otherwise, the headmaster would already know that he was no longer living with the Dursleys. Harry decided to ask his dad about that when he had the chance and read his letter. The only notable thing about the letter was the set of books by Gilderoy Lockhart that were required. There were a lot of them and Harry could tell that Mrs. Weasley was worried about how much they were going to cost.

A letter from Hermione also arrived that morning. She wanted to let them know that she was going to be at Diagon Alley with her parents on Wednesday to get her school supplies. The Weasleys agreed that it would work for them to meet her there.

The following Wednesday, they had a quick breakfast and gathered around the fireplace. Mrs. Weasley took a flower pot off the kitchen mantelpiece and peered inside.

“We’re running low, Arthur,” she sighed. “We’ll have to buy some more today. … Ah well, guests first! After you, Harry dear!”

And she offered him the flowerpot.

Harry looked at the flowerpot and hesitated. He had seen his dad travel by Floo many times but he had never done it himself. He took a pinch of the powder and and threw it into the flames. When the flames turned green he stepped into the fire and opened his mouth, immediately swallowing a lot of hot ash.

D-Dia-gon Alley,” he coughed.

After a rough trip through the Floo, Harry found himself with broken glasses in a shady looking wizard’s shop that he had never been in before. Harry was about to stumble his way out when he saw Draco Malfoy entering. Harry would normally be happy to see Draco but not when he was covered in soot, with broken glasses. He quickly hid in the first spot he saw, a large black cabinet to his left.

Draco entered the shop with a man who was obviously his father. Harry rolled his eyes as he listened to Draco complain about Harry’s broomstick and how he was allowed on the Quidditch team. Honestly, Draco was such a prat. When Mr. Malfoy reminded his son that it wasn’t prudent to appear less than fond of the boy-who-lived, Harry perked up. Maybe he could use that to get Draco to be less of a prat and even make some progress in gaining his friendship. Harry decided to add it to his list of things to ask his Dad about. .

When Harry turned his attention back to the Malfoys they had been joined by a Mr. Borgin. It turned out that Mr. Malfoy was in the shop to sell questionable items that he had at his home. Mr. Borgin was examining the list of items that Mr. Malfoy had brought with him when Draco interrupted to ask his dad to get him an item he saw in the shop.

“Ah, the Hand of Glory!” said Mr. Borgin, abandoning Mr. Malfoy’s list and scurrying over to Draco. “Insert a candle and it gives light only to the holder! Best friend of thieves and plunderers! Your son has fine taste, sir.”

“I hope my son will amount to more than a thief or a plunderer, Borgin,” said Mr. Malfoy coldly, and Mr. Borgin said quickly, “No offense, sir, no offence meant -”

“Though if his grades don’t pick up,” said Mr. Malfoy, more coldly still, “that may indeed be all he is fit for -”

“It’s not my fault,” retorted Draco. “The teachers all have favorites, that Hermione Granger -”

“I would have thought you’d be ashamed that a girl of no wizard family beat you in every exam,” snapped Mr. Malfoy.

Harry frowned at Draco’s abashed and angry expression. He didn’t know how Draco had done in his exams, of course, but he was sure that his marks were decent. Harry knew for a fact that Draco was one of the better students in Potions. It wasn’t fair of Mr. Malfoy to throw Hermione’s good marks in his son’s face like that. Harry was even more determined to find a way to make friends with Draco.

When the Mr. Malfoy was done talking with Mr. Borgin, he and Draco left the shop and Mr. Borgin disappeared into a back room. Harry was finally able to emerge from his hiding spot and slip out of the shop door. He found himself in a dingy alleyway that seemed to be made up entirely of shops devoted to the Dark Arts. Harry was trying to find his way out of the alley when he was found by Hagrid, to the young wizard’s relief.

Hagrid quickly pulled Harry out of Knockturn Alley and into Diagon Alley. As they neared Gringotts, Harry explaining to Hagrid why he had never replied to the letter Hagrid sent, Hermione spotted Harry and called him over. Then the Weasleys came running to where they stood. A relieved Mr. Weasley repaired Harry’s glasses and Mrs. Weasley cleaned the soot off of the boy. Harry then told them about where he had ended up and what he had seen. Mr. Weasley was very interested to hear about Lucius Malfoy selling things to Mr. Borgin.

They entered Gringotts and met up with Hermione’s parents who were waiting to exchange their money at the counter. Then Harry and the Weasley’s were led off to their underground vaults by a Gringotts goblin. Since he was with the Weasley’s Harry got the money for his school supplies from his own vault this time, but his dad had given him strict instructions to track how much he spent on his school supplies. Harry knew that his dad would be replacing the money he spent at some point.

After the visit to Gringotts, Harry, Ron and Hermione were on their own, as the others had their own errands to run. Harry bought them all three large strawberry-and-peanut-butter ice creams and they slurped happily on them as they wandered up the alley, examining the fascinating shop windows.

An hour later they headed for Florish and Botts. When they got there they found a large crowd outside, trying to get in. Apparently Gilderoy Lockhart was there signing books. Hermione was excited to have the chance to meet the author of the Defense of Dark Arts booklist. The three friends squeezed inside and found the rest of the Weasleys already there, along with the Grangers, waiting in the line to see Lockhart.

When they came into view of the table where the famous wizard sat, Gilderoy Lockhart spotted Harry. He stared. Then he leapt to his feet and positively shouted, “It can’t be Harry Potter?”

To Harry’s distress, Lockhart dove forward and seized Harry, dragging him to the front to have his picture taken with the older wizard.

“Nice big smile, Harry,” said Lockhart, through his own gleaming teeth. “Together, you and I are worth the front page.”

While he had Harry with him Lockhart announced that he was taking the position of Defense of Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts that year. Harry made his way back to the edge of the room, where Ginny was standing, as soon as he could get away. Harry decided to give Ginny the books that Lockhart had presented him with, that would be one less set the Weasleys had to buy.

“Bet you loved that, didn’t you, Potter?” said a voice Harry had no trouble recognizing. He straightened up and found himself face-to-face with Draco Malfoy, who was wearing his usual sneer.

Harry smiled and cheerfully responded, “I hated every minute of it, actually. Can you believe that popinjay is going to be our Defense teacher this year?”

Draco stared at Harry for a moment before trying again.

“Famous Harry Potter,” said Malfoy. “Can’t even go into a bookshop without making the front page.”

“Leave him alone, he didn’t want all that!” said Ginny. It was the first time she had spoken in front of Harry. She was glaring at Malfoy.

“Draco, that was kind of rude. I’m starting to think that you don’t like me.” Harry shook his head sorrowfully at the blond boy.

Before Draco could respond, Ron and Hermione arrived. Draco found Ron to be an easier target for his teasing than Harry had been. Harry and Hermione ended up having to grab Ron to stop him from going after Draco. Then Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy found their respective children.

“Well, well, well - Arthur Weasley.”

“Lucius,” said Mr. Weasley, nodding coldly.

“Busy time at the Ministry, I hear,” said Mr. Malfoy. “All those raids … I hope they’re paying you overtime?”

He reached into Ginny’s cauldron and extracted from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration.”

“Obviously not,” Mr. Malfoy said. “Dear me, what’s the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don’t even pay you well for it?”

The conversation degenerated even more from there until Mr. Weasley attacked Mr. Malfoy. Fortunately, Hagrid arrived and broke up the fight, before it went too far. Mr. Malfoy thrust Ginny’s Transfiguration book at her, his eyes glittering with malice.

“Here, girl - take your book - it’s the best your father can give you -” Pulling himself out of Hagrid’s grip he beckoned to Draco and swept from the shop.

Harry and the Weasleys flooed back to the Burrow, after saying goodbye to the Grangers, who were returning to the Muggle street outside of the Leaky Cauldron. Harry was careful to remove his glasses and put them in his pocket before helping himself to the Floo powder. It had been a much more eventful day than he had been expecting.


	3. Returning to Hogwarts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Ron have to find a way to Hogwarts after finding the barrier at Kings Cross sealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are direct quotes from the books.

All too soon it was the end of summer vacation and time to return to Hogwarts. The Weasleys and Harry got up at dawn but it seemed to take forever for them to get ready to leave. When they finally did get going they had to stop and go back three times. Once for George to retrieve a box of fireworks he had forgotten, once for Fred to get his broomstick, and the final time for Ginny’s diary. By the time Ginny was back in the car they were running very late.

 

Mrs. Weasley vetoed her husband’s suggestion that they fly the car to the train station, despite the invisibility booster that he had installed, and they made it to King’s Cross station with only 15 minutes to go. The Weasleys crossed through the barrier to platform 9 ¾ one at a time until there was only Ron and Harry left to go. To their shock, when they tried to go through they crashed into the barrier instead of passing through it. Eleven o’ clock arrived while they tried to figure out what was going on.

 

_ “It’s gone,” said Ron, sounding stunned. “The train’s left. What if Mum and Dad can’t get back through to us? Have you any Muggle money?” _

 

“I have some,” answered Harry. “Enough to use the pay phone to call Moony. I’m sure he will know what we should do.”

 

Ron watched their carts while Harry went to find a pay phone. Soon he was talking to Moony.

 

“Moony, we missed the train! The barrier wouldn’t let me and Ron through and his parents are still on the other side! We don’t even know if they will be able to get back through to us!”

 

“Calm down, Harry. You have Hedwig with you, right? Use her to send an owl to Hogwarts, letting them know what happened and that you will be arriving by Floo, later today. I will call a cab for you to bring you home and then you can Floo from here, ok?”

 

Harry took and deep breath, “Ok, Moony. I’ll go get Ron and we’ll wait outside for the cab. Thank you. I knew that you would know what to do.”

 

Harry went back to Ron and explained the plan to him. He then dug out some paper and a quill from his trunk to write a letter to Professor McGonagall. Once Hedwig had left with his letter, the boys went outside to wait for their cab. Soon they were on their way back to Harry’s house.

 

Lupin was outside waiting for them when they arrived so that he could pay for the cab and help the boys get their trunks inside. He had already received an owl from McGonagall asking him to have the boys Floo to the Gryffindor common room, where she would meet them. Lupin shrunk their trunks for them and sent them on their way.

 

Harry and Ron put their stuff away in their dormitory and then they decided to explore the castle for a while. It was really strange to be wandering around Hogwarts, knowing that they were the only students there. Most of the teachers were busy with last minute tasks in getting ready for the new school year so they didn’t meet any other living thing as they wandered.

 

Eventually, they made their way down to the dungeons and ended up at the door to Professor Snape’s office. Harry double checked that they were alone in the hallway before knocking. When Snape opened the door he smiled to see the two boys there.

 

“I suppose this is a good time as any to stop for lunch. Come in.”

 

Snape turned back to his desk and raised his wand. A large plate of sandwiches, three silver goblets and a jug of pumpkin juice appeared with a pop. The three wizards sat down around the desk and as they ate, Harry told his dad about his stay at the Weasleys, and the events of his visit to Diagon Alley. Snape was concerned to learn that Harry had ended up in Knockturn Alley.

 

“That was a close thing. I’m glad Hagrid found you when he did. I suppose that oaf is good for something after all. If anyone there had recognized you …”

 

“Dad, stop calling Hagrid an oaf. I really like him, he’s been a good friend.”

 

“You’re right, Harry, he has been a good friend to you. Just remember that Hagrid is loyal to Dumbledore and if it came down to doing what the headmaster wants or doing what is best for you, we don’t know which he would choose.”

 

Harry quickly continued his story, telling his dad about the fight at Florish and Botts, with Ron adding commentary. When he was done he remembered that he had wanted to ask his dad’s advice on dealing with Draco.

 

“Dad, Draco’s father told him that it wasn’t prudent for him to appear to dislike me. Do you think that I could use that to get him to stop being such a pain? Maybe if you talked to him?”

 

“I’m sorry that you and Draco don’t get along better. I will certainly remind him of the importance of appearances in this matter, but I doubt it will do any good. He seems determined to provoke you.”

 

“I don’t get why you want to be friends with Draco.” remarked Ron. “You saw what his dad was like at the bookstore. The whole family is rotten to the core, a bunch of pure blood supremacists. Dad would just love to get something on him. He is sure that Mr. Malfoy has a lot of dark artifacts hidden at his manor.”

 

“I know, Draco has been raised with a lot of wrong ideas but I have a feeling that if I could just get through to him, he could be a good friend. He doesn’t seem to have any real friends, just minions, and I think he could really use one. Besides, Dad likes him.” 

 

“I might be a little biased, Harry. After all he is my godson and I have watched him grow up. You don’t have to try to befriend him just because of my relationship with him. It would also be safer for you if you didn’t get too close to him. Lucius is probably the greatest danger you face among the Death Eaters that escaped justice.”

 

“Well, I don’t think you need to worry about me getting too close to Draco. He seems determined to hate me. I’m still going to continue to try to be friendly, though. Maybe someday I will get through to him. Besides, it’s funny to watch him trying to figure out what I’m up to.”

 

“So, why did you to end up coming to Hogwarts by Floo?” Snape inquired.

 

Harry and Ron explained how the barrier at King’s Cross had been sealed just before they could go through.

 

“Well, I’m glad that you called Moony for help rather than doing something reckless, like flying Arthur’s car to Hogwarts. Now, I need to get back to work. I will see the two of you at the Welcome feast.”

 

“Bye, Dad.”

 

“Goodbye, Professor. My sister starts at Hogwarts this year. I’m looking forward to seeing her sorted.”

 

“Another Weasley. I’m sure she will be in Gryffindor like the rest of you.”

 

The two boys spent the afternoon playing Exploding Snap and when they got tired of that, Ron destroyed Harry in a game of chess. When the rest of the students arrived, they found Ron and Harry waiting for them in the Great Hall, Harry had brought ‘Wandering with Werewolves’ with him and was busy complaining to Ron about the inaccuracies in the book when Hermione got to the table.

 

“Professor Lockhart obviously knows nothing about Werewolves. I mean the Homomorphus charm would work to temporarily stop the werewolf, but there is no way that he was able to wrestle with a werewolf in the way he describes, or at all for that matter. Werewolves are bloody dangerous! The last thing you want to do is get within biting range.”

 

“Harry, what makes you think you know more about werewolves than Professor Lockhart? After all Dumbledore hired him to teach Defense Against Dark Arts. He must know what he’s writing about in his books.”

 

Ron spoke up, “Um, Hermione, the Defense Against Dark Arts position is cursed. Dumbledore probably didn’t have anyone else apply for the position, well except for Snape, maybe. I’ve heard that he really wants the job.” Ron looked at Harry.

 

“I’m pretty sure that Professor Snape isn’t interested in teaching Defense, especially if the job is cursed.” Harry responded. “Anyway, Moony has his Mastery in Defense Against the Dark Arts with a specialization in dark creatures. He knows a lot about werewolves and everything he’s told me says that Lockhart couldn’t have stopped the Wagga Wagga werewolf the way he says he did.”

 

Ron nudged Harry. “Hush up, the sorting is starting.”

 

Harry looked up to where the group of nervous first years stood. The sorting hat sang a different song then it had the year before when Harry and his friends had been sorted. Harry supposed it had plenty of time to come up with a song during the year. The first student sorted to Gryffindor was a small boy named Colin Creevey. Harry noticed Ginny talking to a blond girl as they waited for their turn to be sorted. Luna Lovegood ended up in Ravenclaw. Finally it was Ginny’s turn. Her older brothers exploded into cheers when she was sorted into Gryffindor. Ginny sat down beside Colin and Harry frowned as he saw her pointing towards him, as she talked excitedly to the boy.

 

With the sorting over, they were soon enjoying the Welcome Feast. Harry waved to Hagrid, and then glanced over at his dad, who was looking very sour at being seated beside Gilderoy Lockhart. Lockhart was gesturing wildly with his fork as he talked to Snape, apparently completely oblivious to the Potions professor’s look of distaste. Harry allowed himself a small smile at his dad’s predicament as he turned back to the feast. 

 

When Harry arrived in the Gryffindor common room after the feast, Fred and George pounced on him and pulled him into their dormitory.

 

“Harry, Son of Prongs, we present to you, …” With a flourish, Fred pulled a large, worn piece of parchment from inside his robe. “The Marauder’s map.”

 

Harry looked at the blank parchment in puzzlement. He wondered if this was one of the twins’ jokes. “What is it?”

 

_ “This, Harry, is the secret of our success,” said George, patting the parchment fondly. _ _   
_ _   
_ __ “It’s a wrench, giving it to you,’ said Fred, ‘but as the son of a Marauder, it should be yours.”

 

_ “Anyway, we know it off by heart,’ said George. ‘We bequeath it to you. We don’t really need it any more.” _

 

“A bit of old parchment is the secret to your success?”

 

_ “A bit of old parchment!’ said Fred, closing his eyes with a grimace as though Harry had mortally offended him.  _ “Show him, George _.” _ _   
_ _   
_ George _ took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly and said, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” _ _   
_ _   
_ _ And at once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider’s web from the point that George’s wand had touched. They joined each other, they criss-crossed, they fanned into every corner of the parchment; then words began to blossom across the top, great, curly green words, that proclaimed: Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present THE MARAUDER’S MAP. _ _   
_ _   
_ __ It was a map showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. But the truly remarkable thing was the tiny ink dots moving around it, each labelled with a name in minuscule writing. Astounded, Harry bent over it. A labelled dot in the top left corner showed that Professor Dumbledore was pacing his study; the caretaker’s cat, Mrs Norris, was prowling the second floor, and Peeves the poltergeist was currently bouncing around the trophy room.

 

_ “Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs,” sighed George, patting the heading of the map. “We owe them so much.” _ _   
_ __   
“Which is why we want you to have it -”

 

“-since your dad was Prongs.”

_   
_ _ “Right,’ said George briskly, ‘don’t forget to wipe it after you’ve used it –” _ _   
_ _   
_ _ “– or anyone can read it,” Fred said warningly. _ _   
_ _   
_ __ “Just tap it again and say, ‘Mischief managed!’ And it’ll go blank.”

 

Harry carefully stowed the map in his trunk with his father’s invisibility cloak before climbing into bed. As he fell asleep he marveled at the work that Moony and the other marauders had put into  creating such a powerful magical artifact. He needed to ask Moony about it when he had the chance.


	4. The Pros and Cons of Fame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry hears the Basilisk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are direct quotes from the books.

Hermione was reading ‘Voyaging with Vampires’ at breakfast the next morning.

 

“I'll bet there are just as many inaccuracies in that book as in ‘Wanderings with Werewolves’,” Harry commented as he sat down.  “I'm going to ask Moony to recommend some good books on dark creatures in my next owl.”

 

Hermione ignored him and kept reading.

 

The first day of classes was uneventful until after lunch, when Harry was approached by Colin Creevey. As he had feared, Ginny and the other first years had been telling their muggle classmates all about The-Boy-Who-Lived. Colin wanted to take his picture to show that he had met Harry. Unfortunately, Draco Malfoy overheard Colin ask Harry if he would sign the picture when it was developed.

 

_ “Signed photos? You’re giving out signed photos, Potter? Everyone line up!” Malfoy roared to the crowd. “Harry Potter’s giving out signed photos!” _

 

“Would you like one, Draco?” asked Harry. “I’m sure Colin wouldn’t mind. Would you Colin?”

 

Colin looked unsure but nodded.

 

“Why would I want a picture of you?” scoffed Draco. “Because of your famous scar? I don’t think getting your head cut open makes you that special, myself.”

 

“I know you don’t Draco. That’s what I like about you.” Harry turned to Colin. “I’m not really anything special, you know. It was my mother’s sacrifice that defeated You-Know-Who, not anything I did. After all what could a baby do against such a powerful dark wizard?”

 

“What about last year?” Colin asked. “Didn’t you stop the Philosopher’s stone from getting stolen?”

 

“I shouldn’t have even gotten involved with that. Professor Snape and Dumbledore had it handled. I just got in the way and got myself hurt.”

 

“Well, I would still like your picture, Harry.”

 

“Maybe you should get Weasley a signed photo as well, Potter,” sneered Draco. “It’d be worth more than his family’s whole house -”

 

Ron whipped out his wand, but Hermione shut her book with a snap and whispered “Look out!”

 

Gilderoy Lockhart had just arrived on the scene. Harry sighed in irritation as he found himself once more pinned to the professor’s side, posing for another picture. As Colin took the picture the bell rang for afternoon classes and Lockhart headed for his classroom with Harry still clasped to his side. 

 

Harry wasn't very impressed by Lockhart’s first lesson, although it was amusing to see the professor dive under his desk to escape the pixies that he had brought into the classroom. Harry couldn’t believe Hermione was still defending the man, even after he stuck the three of them with rounding up the pixies. That night Harry wrote to Moony to ask for his advice. He wasn’t going to learn anything about Defense Against the Dark Arts at this rate.

 

The first weekend of the term started with Oliver Wood waking Harry at dawn for Quidditch practice. The practice had a slow start with Wood lecturing them about his new tactics for the season. Finally they went out to the pitch to put theory into practice, only to be interrupted by the Slytherin team.

 

Harry was delighted to discover that Draco Malfoy was the new Slytherin Seeker. 

 

“Draco! Congratulations!” Harry exclaimed as the blond stepped out from behind the other Slytherins.

 

Harry wasn’t so pleased to discover that Draco’s father had bought the Slytherin team all new brooms. Before the Gryffindor team could find anything to say about that piece of news, Ron and Hermione had come over to see what was going on.

 

_ “What’s happening?” Ron asked Harry. “Why aren’t you playing? And what’s he doing here?” _

 

_ He was looking at Malfoy, taking in his Slytherin Quidditch robes. _

 

_ “I’m the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley,” said Malfoy, smugly. “Everyone’s just been admiring the brooms my father’s bought our team. Perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would bid for them.” _

 

_ “At least, no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in,” said Hermione sharply. “They got in on pure talent.” _

 

_ “No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood,” Draco spat. _

 

The Gryffindor team went wild. Flint shielded Draco from Fred and George but Ron managed to fire off a hex under Flint’s arm, hitting Draco in the face. Draco paled and then started to belch up slugs. Ron looked both frightened and pleased at the success of his spell.

 

The Slytherins pulled out their wands and the Gryffindors responded by drawing their own wands to protect Ron. It looked like an all out battle was going to start, when Harry spoke up.

 

“Shouldn’t we be getting Draco to the infirmary? C’mon Hermione.”

 

Harry walked over to where Draco was continuing to belch up slugs, and motioned Hermione to take his other side. Hermione and Harry then pulled Draco up by the arms and helped him towards the castle.

 

“Don’t worry Draco. I’m sure Madam Pomfrey will get you fixed up in no time. I hope you’ve learned your lesson about calling people names. You’re just lucky Hermione didn’t hex you. She knows some good ones, right Hermione?”

 

At that point Flint caught up with them, along with the rest of his team. “Where do you think you’re going with Malfoy? Do you really think I would let a couple of Gryffindors run off with our seeker after one of you cursed him?”

 

“Well, no one else was helping him, but of course you can take over from here.” Harry let the Slytherins take Draco from him and Hermione. “I’ll come to see how you are doing later, Draco.”

 

Ron caught up with his friends and they continued into the castle together.

 

“You shouldn’t have done that Ron. You’re going to be in so much trouble.” Hermione scolded.

 

“I couldn’t let him get away with calling you that,” protested Ron.

 

“He’s right Hermione. That was a disgusting thing to call someone.” Harry agreed.

 

“But what does it mean? I could tell it was really rude, of course -”

 

“Mudblood is a really foul name for someone who is Muggle-born, like you. It means dirty blood. It’s a term used by pure-blood supremacists, those who think that wizards without any known Muggle ancestors are superior to everyone else.”

 

The three friends were met by Professor Snape when they entered the castle.

 

“Weasley, I hear that you are the one who hexed Malfoy. I’m taking twenty points from Gryffindor and you will serve detention with Filch this evening at eight o’clock. I believe he wants someone to polish the silver in the trophy room. And Weasley, no magic.”

 

Harry exclaimed, “That’s not fair! He called Hermione a mudblood, Professor!”

 

Professor Snape spoke icily. “Do not talk back to me, Potter. I believe a detention will do you some good as well. I expect to see you in my office tonight.”

 

As Professor Snape turned to sweep away, he was interrupted by Professor Lockhart. Who had entered the castle just in time to hear him assign Harry detention.

 

“Severus, I’ll take Harry’s detention tonight. He can help me with my fan mail.”

 

Harry’s heart sank. Helping Lockhart with his fan mail was the last thing he wanted to do. He definitely didn’t want to give up a chance to spend some time with his dad to do it. He looked beseechingly at his dad but he knew that it wasn’t going to do any good. Maintaining their cover was too important.

 

“Of course, Gilderoy. It’s not like I desire to spend more time in Potter’s company than I am already forced to.” Snape swept away.

 

After lunch Harry dragged Ron and Hermione to the infirmary to visit Draco. When they got there Draco was sitting in bed with a bowl beside him but he seemed to have mostly recovered from the curse.

 

“Alright, Ron. I believe you have something to say to Draco?” Harry pushed Ron forward.

 

Ron glared at Harry and then turned to the Slytherin watching them and said, “I’m sorry for having cursed you,” in the most insincere voice he could manage. He then muttered, “even though you deserved it.”

 

“Now Draco, it’s your turn. Apologize to Hermione,” said Harry.

 

“Why should I apologize to that ... “ Draco trailed off when he saw the expression on Harry’s face. Harry hadn’t grown up watching Snape for nothing.

 

“You  _ should _ apologize because it is the right thing to do but you  _ will _ apologize because I am asking you to. Just like Ron did. I’m sure your parents taught you some manners.”

 

Draco looked sour and apologized to Hermione. 

 

“Thank you, Draco,” Hermione responded. “I’m sorry that I implied that you needed to buy your way onto the Quidditch team. That was uncalled for and Harry assures me that you definitely have the skill to make the team on your own merits.”

 

“That’s right. I’m looking forward to playing against you, Draco. Now we’d better get going. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

 

Detention with Lockhart was just as bad as Harry had feared. He was addressing what seemed like the thousandth envelope when he heard a voice. A voice of breathtaking, ice-cold venom.

 

“Come … come to me. … Let me rip you. … Let me hear you. … Let me kill you. …”

 

_ Harry gave a huge jump and a large lilac blot appeared on Veronica Smethley’s street. _

 

_ “What?” he said loudly. _

 

_ “I know!” said Lockhart. “Six solid months at the top of the best-seller list! Broke all record!” _

 

_ “No,” said Harry frantically. “That voice!” _

 

_ “Sorry?” said Lockhart, looking puzzled. “What voice?” _

 

_ “That - that voice that said …” _ Harry stopped. Lockhart had obviously not heard the voice.

 

“Great Scott - look at the time! You had better get back to your dorm. The time’s flown hasn’t it.” Lockhart shooed Harry out of the room, telling him that he mustn’t expect a treat like this every time he got detention.

 

Ron arrived back at the common room right after Harry got there. He started to complain about how sore he was as they made their way up to their dormitory but stopped when he noticed the expression on Harry’s face.

 

“What’s wrong, Harry?”

 

Quietly, so as not to wake the other boys, Harry told Ron about what he heard.

 

“I need to go see my dad,” he whispered as he pulled out his cloak. “I promised that I would tell him about anything unusual or threatening that happened this year and this definitely qualifies. I probably won’t be back tonight. Can you cover for me?”

 

“Of course, mate. I’ll see you in the morning.” Ron flopped down in his bed and watched Harry disappear.

 

Soon Harry was in his dad’s quarters, telling him about the voice that he had heard. Snape questioned his son closely about what exactly he had heard the voice say and then frowned.

 

“What do you think it is, Dad?” asked Harry.

 

“I don’t know but it must have something to do with the danger that house-elf warned you about. You did the right thing in telling me about this, Harry. You must let me know as soon as you can if you ever hear it again. Now let’s get you to bed.”


	5. Something Always Happens on Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Chamber of Secrets is opened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are quotes from the books.
> 
> I'm afraid that I've gotten busy with the new year so I won't be posting as often. I'm hoping to manage to update twice a week.

The weeks leading up to Halloween were busy ones for Harry. He had started tutoring Neville in potions like he had promised to the year before. He also spent much of his free time in the library reading through Lockhart’s books and comparing the information in them to information he gleaned from the books that Moony had suggested to him. He found more inaccuracies, but he also noticed something else interesting about the events depicted in the Defense Against Dark Arts books.

 

“There is no way that Lockhart could have done everything he says he did in these books,” Harry explained to Ron and Hermione. “Look, I’ve written up a timeline for all of the books, with all the places he claims to have been. Even allowing for some artistic licence, there is no way that he could have been in all the places he writes about at those times. Here he must have been in two places at once if the events in ‘Holidays with Hags’ and ‘Voyages with Vampires’ are accurate.”

 

“Maybe the printers made some mistakes with the dates, Harry. I’m sure that Professor Lockhart wouldn’t have written about these things if they didn’t happen.”

 

“Oh, I think that all the things Lockhart writes about did happen. Just not to him. There are too many details that fit together for everything to be made up whole cloth. Especially by someone who obviously knows so little about the creatures he claims to have defeated.”

 

“You’re getting obsessed, mate. It’s a good thing that you have Quidditch practice to get you out of the library occasionally.” Ron said. “You’re even worse than Hermione.”

 

Quidditch practice was the reason that Harry was to be found returning to Gryffindor tower soaked to the skin, a few days before Halloween. As he squelched through the corridors, leaving a trail of mud behind him, he came across Nearly Headless Nick and stopped to talk to him. It was fortunate for Harry that he had because his trail of mud was discovered by Mrs. Norris and Nick was able to get Peeves to distract Filch before he was able to assign Harry detention. While he was in Filch’s office Harry noticed the caretaker’s Kwikspell correspondence course. Apparently, Filch was a squib.

 

Harry felt he owed Nick a favour after that and that is how Harry found himself at Nearly Headless Nick’s deathday party, with Hermione and Ron, instead of the Halloween feast. The party was not very enjoyable and Harry’s presence didn’t really impress the Headless Hunt the way Nick had hoped it would. The only good thing out of being there was that seeing Moaning Myrtle gave Hermione an idea.

 

“Harry, you wanted a place to brew potions with Neville since you can’t exactly ask Professor Snape for the use of the classroom, right? Well we can always use Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom.”

 

“She haunts a bathroom?”

 

“Yes, it’s been out of order all year because she keeps flooding it. No one ever goes there, and it has a good ventilation since it’s a bathroom. It would be perfect. Well, except for Moaning Myrtle.”

 

“That’s great, Hermione. Neville will be able to get on a lot better if he can do some actual brewing without Professor Snape there. I wish Neville wasn’t so scared of him.”

 

They were on their way back to the Great Hall when Harry heard the voice again.

 

_ “... rip … tear … kill …” _

 

Harry stopped to listen.

 

_ “... soo hungry … for so long …” _

 

“Listen!” said Harry urgently, “Can you hear it?”

 

_ “... kill … time to kill…” _

 

“I can’t hear anything, Harry,” said Ron.

 

The voice was moving away. Harry began to run, following the sound of the voice. Forgetting his promise to his dad, Harry ran up the stairs, past the Great Hall, up to the second floor. In a deserted hallway on the second floor they discovered Mrs. Norris, hanging by her tail from a torch bracket, as stiff as a board. Above her the words ‘THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.’ were painted in letters a foot tall.

 

As they stood there, the feast ended and soon the hall was filled with students. Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation when he heard Draco yell, through the sudden quiet that fell as the students notices Mrs. Norris.

 

“Enemies of the Heir, beware! You’ll be next, Mudbloods!”

 

Draco really was a git. It was like he wanted everybody to think he was evil or something.

 

The next person to arrive was Filch. He of course was upset by what happened to his cat and he was sure Harry was to blame. Harry was relieved when Dumbledore arrived, followed by a number of other teachers. The Headmaster quickly took charge, detaching Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket and directing Filch, Harry, Ron and Hermione to follow him to Lockhart’s nearby office.

 

Dumbledore carefully examined the cat before informing Filch that she wasn’t dead but Petrified. Filch continued to accuse Harry of being the one who petrified Mrs. Norris because Harry had found out that he was a Squib.

 

_ “If I may speak, Headmaster,” said Snape from the shadows. _

 

Harry was relieved to see that his dad was there. Snape went on.

 

_ “Potter and his friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.” he said, a slight sneer curling the corner of his mouth as though he doubted it. “But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why was he in the upstairs corridor at all? Why wasn’t he at the Halloween feast?” _

 

Snape looked at Harry and the boy quailed as he realized how much trouble he was going to be in for following the voice rather than finding a way to tell his dad about it.

 

“We were at Nearly Headless Nick’s deathday party,” Harry explained. “And then I heard a voice.”

 

“And you followed it?”

 

Harry nodded miserably. “It sounded it was going to kill someone.”

 

“So you decided to follow this murderous voice, that I suppose no one else could hear, instead of fetching a teacher. It seems like the events of last year have gone to your head. You are not the only one capable of doing anything here, Potter.”

 

Harry stared at the floor. “I wasn’t thinking,” he mumbled.

 

“Clearly you weren’t.” Snape turned his attention to Harry’s friends. “Did either of you two hear this supposed voice?”

 

“No, Professor,” said Hermione, “but I’m sure Harry is telling the truth. He definitely was hearing something.”

 

“What did the voice say, Harry?” asked Dumbledore.

 

Harry told them what he had heard. “Just before we got up to the second floor I heard it say ‘I smell blood…’. I think that’s when it found Mrs. Norris. Whatever it was that I was hearing; I never saw anything.”

 

“Thank you, Harry. You may go.”

 

“Please sir, is Mrs. Norris going to be alright?”

 

“Yes, Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris.”

 

_ “I’ll make it,” Lockhart butted in. “I must have done it a hundred times. I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep -” _

 

_ “Excuse me,” said Snape icily. “But I believe I am the Potions master at this school.” _

 

_ There was a very awkward pause. _

 

_ “You may go,” Dumbledore said to Harry, Ron and Hermione. _

 

Harry was reluctant to leave. He wanted to know how the teachers were planning to deal with whatever it was that had done this but his dad’s glare convinced him that he had better do what the headmaster said.

 

“Are you sure you should have told them about hearing that voice, Harry? Hearing voices no one else can hear isn’t a good sign, even in the wizarding world.” Ron asked Harry, after they had found an empty classroom to talk things over in.

 

“It might be important, Ron, and anyways, I already told Professor Snape about the first time I heard it. What I want to know is what was that writing on the wall all about?  _ ‘The Chamber Has Been Opened’. ... What’s that supposed to mean? _ ”

 

_ “You know, it rings a sort of bell,” said Ron slowly. “I think someone told me a story about a secret chamber at Hogwarts once … might’ve been Bill. …” _

 

“I’ll ask Professor Snape about it when I get the chance. He will probably know something.” said Harry.

 

“We should call him The Professor,” commented Hermione.

 

“What, like The Doctor?” Harry asked.

 

“Yes, I was thinking that if anyone overheard us they would find it strange that you talk about asking Professor Snape about stuff. After all everyone knows how much he hates you. So we should just call him The Professor. That way if anyone hears us, they won’t know who we are talking about.”

 

“That’s brilliant, Hermione,” said Ron. “I just have one question. Who or what is The Doctor?”

 

“I’ll explain it to you later, Ron. Right now we had better get to bed,” said Harry.

 

Harry wasn’t able to find an opportunity to talk to his dad until his next Potions lesson, the following Wednesday. His dad made him stay behind after class, ostensibly to scrape tuberworms off the desks. As soon as the last student left the class, Snape waved his wand and vanished the tuberworm remains. He then conjured up a plate of sandwiches and some pumpkin juice.

 

“I can tell that you have a lot of questions for me so we had better eat lunch while we talk. I can’t have you going hungry after all.”

 

As he started to eat, Harry told his dad about all the rumours floating around about what happened to Mrs. Norris.

 

“It’s all everyone is talking about but no one really seems to know anything. Ron says that one of his brothers told him that there is some sort of secret chamber in the castle and the message said that The Chamber has opened. Do you know anything about that? Is there an especially secret chamber in the castle?”

 

“There are legends of a hidden chamber built by the founder of my house, Salazar Slytherin, known as the Chamber of Secrets. According to the legend, Slytherin sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that no one would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. Inside the Chamber is supposed to be a monster that the Heir would be able to use to purge the school of all Muggleborns. Salazar Slytherin did not agree with accepting Muggleborns into Hogwarts. That is why he left the school.”

 

“That … that explains a lot, actually. So the Chamber of Secrets has been opened and the enemies of the Heir would be the Muggleborn students, and anyone trying to stop him I guess. I wonder who the heir is?”

 

“I don’t know, Harry, but this isn’t the first time the Chamber has been opened.”

 

“It isn’t?”

 

“It was before my time but the Chamber of Secrets was last opened fifty years ago. Dumbledore was the Transfiguration teacher at the time and he told us that several Muggleborn students were petrified. Unfortunately, the Heir did not stop there. A student was killed before the attacks ceased.”

 

“How did they stop the attacks? Was the Heir caught?”

 

“I have no idea how the attacks were stopped. Dumbledore was strangely cagey about that topic.”

 

“Do you think that this is the danger that Dobby warned me about?”

 

“It must be. Although how he knew that the Chamber would be opened … Harry, this monster that is released when the Chamber is opened is deadly. Under no circumstances are you to do any investigating on your own. No more following deadly voices around the school. Is that clear?”

 

“Yes, Dad. I’m sorry, I won’t do that again, I promise.”

 

“Good, I’m going to hold you to that promise. Now you had better get going. Lunch is almost over.”

 

Harry hurried off to the library where he knew he would find Ron and Hermione.

 

“I can’t believe Professor Snape kept me cleaning desks right through lunch.” Harry complained to Ron when he found him. “Where’s Hermione?”

 

“Back there. I think she’s trying to read through the entire library.”

 

“Come on. I’ve got something she’ll want to hear.”

 

Harry told Ron and Hermione what his dad had told him about the Chamber of Secrets.

 

“I never knew Salazar Slytherin was the one who started all this pureblood stuff. I wouldn’t be in his house if you paid me.” Ron said.

 

“Ron!” hissed Hermione.

 

Ron looked at Harry guiltily, and mumbled, “Sorry, mate. No offence meant to The Professor.”

 

“It’s ok, Ron. Slytherin House does have some definite problems and there are reasons that their Head of House can’t do anything about them yet.”

 

“We’d better get going or else we’ll be late for History of Magic,” said Hermione. “Come on.”

 

After History of Magic, the three friends were heading back to their dorm when they found themselves at the end of the corridor where the attack had happened. A chair stood against the wall that beared the message “The Chamber of Secrets Has been Opened” but Filch was not on guard there at that moment.

 

“I probably shouldn’t hang around here. I promised The Professor that I wouldn’t try to investigate anything on my own,” said Harry.

 

_ “Come and look at this!” said Hermione. “This is funny. …” _

 

“What part of ‘I’m not supposed to investigate on my own’ did you not understand,” Harry said as he walked over to the window that Hermione was pointing at. Around twenty spiders were scuttling, apparently fighting to get through a small crack.

 

_ “Have you ever seen spiders act like that?” said Hermione wonderingly. _

 

“No,” said Harry. “I should probably tell The Professor about that. It definitely counts as something odd. Are you ok, Ron?”

 

Ron was standing well back from the window and looked like he was fighting not to run.

 

_ “I - don’t - like - spiders,” said Ron tensely.” _

 

“Well there’s no need to hang around here,” said Harry. “As I said before I’m not supposed be investigating anything.”

 

“Hold on a minute, Harry,” said Hermione, distracted from her apparent amusement over Ron’s fear. “While we are here we should check out Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. I still think that it would be the perfect place for you to brew potions with Neville.”

 

Hermione led the two boys to a door that was a few paces past Filch’s chair and opened the door there.

 

“This must be where all that water that was on the floor Halloween night came from,” commented Ron as he followed Hermione into the bathroom.

 

“Probably,” agreed Hermione, “Moaning Myrtle is always flooding the bathroom.”

 

Harry looked around the gloomy bathroom. “It should work. I’ll have to talk to Neville about it. How did he do in Potions today, Hermione?”

 

They had found that Neville was at his best in Potions if he sat as far away from Harry as possible so Hermione was Neville’s brewing partner.

 

“He’s definitely improving but I think you’re right. He needs the chance to do some brewing away from Professor Snape.”

 

“Let’s get to dinner,” said Harry, “Before I’m tempted to start questioning Moaning Myrtle about Halloween night.”


	6. Dobby Strikes Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fred and George get to spend time with Moony. The first Quidditch match of the year proves to be dangerous for Harry yet again. Dobby shows up again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are direct quotes from the books.

The Saturday after Halloween was the day of the first Quidditch match of the year so Remus was sitting with Severus at the High Table when Harry entered the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry waved to Moony and then noticed that the Weasley twins were motioning for him to sit with them at the Gryffindor table. As soon as Harry sat down Fred and George settled themselves on either side of him.

 

“Harry, do you think you could introduce us to Mr. Lupin before the Quidditch match?”

 

“It would be such an honour to meet one of the Marauders …”

 

“A master of mischief …”

 

“Creator of the Map that has taught us more than all of the teachers in this school combined …”

 

“So how about it, Harry?”

 

“Do you think he would be willing to talk to us?”

 

“Of course. I’m sure he would be glad to meet you. We should be able to catch him and Professor Snape after they’ve had breakfast.”

 

Fred and George looked at each other over Harry’s head. “I still can’t believe that one of the Marauders is living with Snape of all people,” George commented before turning back to his own breakfast.

 

When they were done eating the three boys left the hall and waited for Snape and Lupin to come out. The two wizards saw them hanging about as they exited the hall and Moony came over to talk to Harry with Severus following him.

 

“Hey, Harry. Are you ready for the game?” Moony greeted his son as he approached.

 

“I should be, we’ve certainly been practising enough. Moony, you remember Fred and George Weasley don’t you? They wanted to meet you properly.” Harry turned to the twins, “Fred and George meet Remus Lupin, otherwise known as Moony.”

 

The twins surged forward to eagerly shake the confused wizard’s hand.

 

“We are honoured to meet you Mr. Moony sir.”

 

“We have humbly attempted follow in the Marauder’s footsteps in our time here at Hogwarts.”

 

“Maybe you would be willing to tell us about some of the mischief you managed while you were here …”

 

“And how you made the Map …”

 

“And about the other Marauders …”

 

“We are mere students at your feet.” The twins finished in chorus.

 

“So you found the Marauder’s Map did you?” said Remus. “How did you manage to get it from Filch? He confiscated it from us in our final year. Although we hardly needed it by then.”

 

Fred and George told the tale of how they had liberated the Map from the drawer in Filch’s office. They then asked again if Moony would tell them some tales about the Marauders.

 

“I guess I can tell you about some of our adventures after the game. That is if you don’t mind, Sev love.”

 

“You can spend your time how you wish, Remus,” Severus answered dryly. “I’m sure Potter would enjoy hearing some more stories about his father’s antics at school. In fact why don’t you regal them with some tales now. Maybe you can delay them enough to force Gryffindor to forfeit.”

 

Snape smiled thinly as the young wizards ran off to get ready for the game. Soon he and Remus were finding seats in the stands to watch the game.

 

“This should be a good game,” commented Remus. “Your Slytherins have the superior brooms but going by what Harry’s been telling me about Wood the Gryffindor team will be better prepared.”

 

“My snakes have been working hard as well and as you said they do have the better brooms. Would you care to make a small wager on the outcome of the game?”

 

“You’re on. If Gryffindor wins you’re doing the dishes for the entire Christmas break. There are the teams. Go Gryffindor!”

 

Snape frowned when Harry dodged a Bludger only minutes into the match. “That Bludger was awfully close to Harry. The Weasleys should be doing a better job of protecting their seeker.”

 

“There’s something wrong. The Bludger shouldn’t be behaving like that. They never target just one player.” Lupin said as the Bludger continued to follow Harry despite George’s efforts.

 

“Good they’re calling a timeout. I want Slytherin to win but not at the risk of Harry being injured.”

 

“Is it possible that someone tampered with the Bludger, Sev?”

 

“I don’t see how. Madam Hooch keeps them locked up in her office when they’re not in use. Maybe they’ll stop the match and ask for an inquiry.”

 

“Not a chance. Just look at the expression on Harry’s face. He doesn’t want to take the chance on forfeiting if they stop the match. See I was right. There they go. He’s just like James all over again.”

 

“I don’t like this.” Severus muttered as he pulled out his wand. “Get ready to cushion his fall if that thing manages to knock him off his broom. I’m going to be completely grey by the time he finishes school at this rate. If the stress of keeping him alive doesn’t kill me first.”

 

Remus pulled out his wand as well. “I’ll be ready. Look at him go! Keep it up, Harry! Don’t let that Bludger stop you!”

 

“I have to admit he can really fly. Draco could learn something from him. Why is he stopping? The Bludger will get him if he doesn’t move! Come on, Harry!”

 

Both wizards winced as the Bludger hit Harry in the elbow and got ready to cast. Harry’s arm hung limply by his side, obviously broken but he didn’t land his broom.

 

“What is he doing?” snapped Snape. “Get out of the air!”

 

“He must have seen the Snitch. Yes, there it is by Malfoy! He’s got it!”

 

“He’s going down but slowly enough that he shouldn’t injure himself more when he lands in the mud. Come on!”

 

Snape and Lupin hurried out of the stands towards where Harry had landed. They got there just in time hear Lockhart tell Harry that he was going to fix his arm.

 

“Oh no! Remus you get Harry to the hospital wing. I’ll deal with this idiot.”

 

“Stand back,” said Lockhart, as he rolled up his sleeves.

 

Snape stepped between Harry and Lockhart. “Cast that spell and I will make sure that you regret it,” Snape growled, his wand pointed at Lockhart. Lockhart quailed at the look in the Potions professor’s eye.

 

Remus quickly conjured a stretcher and helped Harry onto it and then levitated it to take him into the castle. Hermione and Ron followed them as they made their way to the hospital wing. Fortunately, Madam Pomfrey was able to quickly mend Harry’s arm. It wasn’t long before he was as good as new.

 

“That was some catch you made, Harry.” Ron grinned, once he was reassured that Harry was alright. “Malfoy’s face … he looked ready to kill. …”

 

_“I want to know how he fixed that Bludger,” said Hermione darkly._

 

“I don’t think he was the one to fix the Bludger, Hermione,” said Harry. “The Bludgers were locked up before the game. Draco wouldn’t have been able to do anything with them.”

 

“Harry’s right. I don’t think this was done by any student,” Lupin agreed. “I’m sure Madam Hooch will investigate. Everyone could see that there was something wrong with that Bludger.”

 

Just then the door of the hospital wing burst open to admit the rest of the Gryffindor team.

 

_“Unbelievable flying, Harry,” said George. “I’ve just seen Marcus Flint yelling at Malfoy. Something about having the Snitch on top of his head and not noticing. Malfoy didn’t seem to happy.”_

 

“Are you alright, Harry?” asked Alicia.

 

“I’m fine. Madam Pomfrey fixed me right up.”

 

“Come on then. Victory party in the common room!” Fred exclaimed ushering Harry out of the hospital wing.

 

George turned to Lupin. “You’re welcome too, Mr. Moony sir. We would be delighted to have an illustrious former Gryffindor attend.”

 

Moony smiled. “Just let me find Sev to tell him what I’m up to and I’ll meet you there. What’s the current password?”

 

Later, once the celebration had calmed down a little, Harry fetched the Marauders Map from his trunk and showed it to Moony. Seated in a corner of the common room, Moony told Harry, Hermione and the three youngest Weasley boys about making the Map.

 

“It was James’ idea really. You see we had learned about one secret passageway early on in our school career and that made him wonder if there were anymore. So we started looking for other secrets passageways and rooms and recording the ones we found. Then, as the Map became more complete, we decided that we needed to conceal its nature from anyone else who came across it. The hardest part was the location spells to track everyone. That took a lot of study and hard work to get right but by that time we figured we could do anything if we worked on it together. I thought we would always be together. …”

 

Moony trailed off as he looked at the Marauder’s names on the Map. After a moments silence he looked up at the children surrounding him and started to tell them about some of the things that the Marauders had gotten up to with the map. Harry noticed that, as usual, Moony avoided mentioning Padfoot as much as possible.

 

After dinner, Harry snuck away to spend some time with his dad and Moony. He had enjoyed having Moony at the party in the common room but he was looking forward to having some time with just his family. He also needed to thank his dad for stopping Lockhart. Harry shuddered to think what could have happened if Lockhart had been able to cast his spell.

 

Snape let Harry into his quarters and immediately started checking him over. “Are you ok, Harry? What possessed you to keep flying with that Bludger after you like that? You could have been killed!”

 

“I’m fine, Dad. Madam Pomfrey took care of me. I’m sorry that I scared you but I figured I’d be able to outfly the Bludger and I didn’t want to forfeit the game. I was right, too. It wouldn’t have touched me if I hadn't been thrown off by the Snitch being right beside Draco’s head. He didn’t even notice it!”

 

“It was still dangerous, Harry. You might be able to outfly a Bludger but, as you found, even a momentary distraction was enough for you to have been injured. If it had hit you in the head you would have been much more seriously injured.” Snape pulled Harry into a hug. “I’m glad you’re ok.”

 

“So, Harry, how have you been doing with your Defence Against Dark Arts study?” asked Moony, once Severus had let Harry go again. “Were the books I recommended helpful?”

 

“They really were, I’ve gone through all of Lockhart’s books and I think that I found most of the mistakes he makes about dark creatures in them but I noticed something else as well. The chronology of his books makes absolutely no sense. There is no way that he did all the things he writes about. Besides the fact that he is obviously rubbish at most spells. Thank you for stopping him from trying to ‘help’ me, Dad.”

 

“No problem, Harry. I wasn’t about to let that incompetent buffoon lay a wand on you. Now what’s this Map that the Weasleys were talking about before the match?”

 

Harry pulled out the Marauders Map and showed his dad how it worked.

 

“So, not only did Potter have a invisibility cloak, he also had a map that displays the whereabouts of everyone in the school. It’s no wonder that he had no regard for the school rules. He didn’t have to worry about getting caught.”

 

“Even with the map, we still ended up getting in trouble, it doesn’t help if you forget to check it,” said Moony. “The question is, now that we know that Harry has the Map, do we let him keep it?”

 

“I promise that I won’t use it to go looking for trouble. I haven’t really used it yet, actually but I would like to keep it.”

 

“You can keep the map if you promise that you will tell a teacher if you see anything unusual on the map. Come to me if you can. I don’t want a repeat of last year.”

 

“I promise, Dad. I wonder if the Chamber of Secrets is shown on the Map?” Harry started to search the Map.

 

“It isn’t,” Moony responded. “It only shows the places that we found when we were making it and we never found the Chamber of Secrets.”

 

“Too bad. If we knew where the Chamber was then Dumbledore would be able to do something about the monster in there before anyone got hurt.”

 

Before Harry left to go back to his dorm he remembered to tell his dad and Moony about the behaviour of the spiders. Neither of them knew what it meant but they agreed that it probably was important. Moony was sure that he had read something about a monster that spiders feared above all else but unfortunately he couldn’t remember where he had read it.

 

That night Harry was woken up by someone drawing back the curtains around his bed. He grabbed his wand and whispered “Lumos” so that he could see who it was. To his surprise the light from his wand illuminated the face of a house-elf.

 

“Dobby, what are you doing here?”

 

_“Harry Potter came back to school,” Dobby whispered miserably. “Dobby warned and warned Harry Potter. Ah, sir why didn’t you heed Dobby? Why didn’t Harry Potter go back home when he missed the train?”_

 

“Dobby, how did you know I missed the train?” asked Harry suspiciously. “Did you stop the barrier from letting us through?”

 

_“Indeed yes, sir,” said Dobby, nodding his vigorously, ears flapping. “Dobby hid and watched for Harry Potter and sealed the gateway and Dobby had to iron his hands afterward,” - he showed Harry ten long bandaged fingers - “but Dobby didn’t care, sir, for he thought Harry Potter was safe, never did Dobby dream that Harry Potter would get to school another way!”_

 

_He was rocking backward and forward, shaking his ugly head._

 

_“Dobby was so shocked when he heard Harry Potter was back at Hogwarts, he let his master’s dinner burn! Such a flogging Dobby never had, sir. …”_

 

“Of course, I found another way to go to school, Dobby. I can’t exactly just skip school.”

 

_“Harry Potter must go home! Dobby thought his Bludger would be enough to make -”_

 

_“Your Bludger?” said Harry. “What d’you mean, your Bludger? You made that Bludger try and kill me?”_

 

_“Not kill you, sir, never kill you!” said Dobby shocked. “Dobby wants to save Harry Potter’s life! Better sent home, grievously injured, than remain here, sir! Dobby only wanted Harry Potter hurt enough to be sent home!”_

 

“Why are you so intent on sending me home, Dobby. Does this have anything to do with the Chamber of Secrets being opened.”

 

Dobby grabbed Harry’s water jug and cracked it over his own head, toppling out of sight. The sound woke up Ron in the next bed.

 

“What’s going on?” he said sleepily. “Oh, it’s that crazy house-elf, again.”

 

Harry grabbed Dobby’s hand when he came got back up from the floor. “Who opened the Chamber, Dobby? Tell me!”

 

_“Dobby can’t, sir, Dobby can’t, Dobby mustn’t tell!” squealed the elf. “Go home, Harry Potter, go home!”_

 

“I tell you I can’t go home! I need to be here at school. You don’t need to worry about me Dobby. I have someone looking out for me and I’m being careful. I’ll be ok. Now you’d better get going before you wake everybody else up.” He let go of the house-elf who disappeared with a loud crack.

 

“Well, I guess that confirms it,” said Harry to Ron. “The danger that Dobby warned me about was the Chamber of Secrets being opened again. Apparently, he was the one to send that Bludger after me so that I would be injured enough to be sent home.”

 

“Blimey, Harry, if Dobby doesn’t stop trying to save your life, he’s going to kill you.”


	7. Parselmouth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A student is attacked and Harry reveals he is a Parselmouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All italics are direct quotes from the books.

Sunday morning Harry found Neville and told him that Hermione had found them a place to do some brewing. When they reached the second floor corridor where Mrs. Norris had been attacked Neville stopped.

 

“Isn’t this where …?”

 

“Yes, but that’s not why we’re here. Come on.”

 

Harry opened the door to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom.

 

“We can’t go in there it’s a girl’s toilet,” protested Neville.

 

“Sure we can. It’s been out of order all year and no one goes in here. It’s perfect.”

 

Neville reluctantly followed Harry into the bathroom. Hermione was already there setting up a portable potions lab in the middle of the room. As Harry and Neville joined her a ghostly figure floated out of the end stall.

 

“Those are boys. What are boys doing in a girl’s bathroom?” Moaning Myrtle said suspiciously.

 

“Hi Myrtle,” said Harry. “I hope we aren’t disturbing you. It’s just that this is the perfect place for some practical Potions work. Neville and I would like to come in here once or twice a week to do some brewing. If that’s alright with you.”

 

“Oh… Some company would be nice. No one ever comes to visit me.”

 

“Well, you’ll be seeing us regularly from now on. We will need to focus on the potion once we start brewing though. I don’t want to risk an accident.”

 

Harry had decided to start with a simple potion, just to get the feel for their set up and to see if they needed to change anything, so Neville had no problems with brewing it. Myrtle was a little distracting but she didn’t interfere with what they were doing so she wasn’t really a problem. Harry and Neville agreed to meet there again the following Sunday before cleaning up.

 

As Harry and Neville were cleaning up from their brewing Ron rushed into the bathroom looking upset.

 

“Colin Creevey's been petrified! One of the teachers found him last night! I heard McGonagall telling Flitwick that he was holding his camera but the insides were melted!”

 

“What kind of monster could do that?” Neville asked shakily.

 

“And who would set something like that loose in a school?” added Hermione.

 

“I don't know but they have some connection to a house-elf named Dobby.” Harry told Hermione and Neville about his nocturnal visitor.

 

“He didn’t really tell me anything new, but at least we now know that The Chamber being opened was something planned by Dobby’s master.”

 

“You said that the Chamber had been opened before?” asked Ron.

 

“Yes, Dumbledore said that it had.”

 

_ “That settles it,” said Ron in a triumphant voice. “Lucius Malfoy must’ve opened the Chamber when he was at school here and now he’s told dear old Draco how to do it. It’s obvious. Wish Dobby’d told you what kind of monster’s in there, though.” _

 

“I don’t think so Ron. The last time the Chamber was opened was fifty years ago. I think that would be a little before Mr. Malfoy’s time.” Harry went on reluctantly, “I suppose it’s possible that it was Draco’s grandfather who had opened the Chamber before, though. I'm not sure how we could find out, though.”

 

“We could use Polyjuice potion!” exclaimed Hermione. “Professor Snape mentioned it in class a few weeks ago. It transforms you into someone else. If we changed into Slytherins we could talk to Draco without him knowing it was us. He would probably tell us anything. If he’s the Heir he probably boasts about it in the Slytherin common room all the time.”

 

“I don’t want to think that Draco is the Heir but his dad is definitely the type to be involved in something like this.” Harry began to pace. “We need to know if Draco is behind this. It was bad enough when Mrs. Norris was petrified but now the monster's attacked a student. Someone needs to stop him. I going to go talk to The Professor.”

 

Harry abruptly left the bathroom, leaving Hermione and a very confused Neville to finish packing up the potions lab. Soon he was knocking on the door of Professor Snape’s quarters hoping that his dad hadn’t yet gone for lunch.

 

“Harry, you had better get inside before anyone sees you.” Professor Snape quickly ushered Harry inside. “I presume that you’re here because of what happened to Creevey?”

 

“Yes, do you know anything about what happened to him?”

 

“There was another attack last night. Professor Minerva found Creevey on the stairs shortly after curfew. He had been petrified just like the cat. The Chamber of Secrets is open again.”

 

“Dad, Dobby came to see me again last night. He was the one who sent the Bludger after me. Apparently he was trying to injure me enough to send me home because of the danger at the school this year. He basically confirmed that it was the Chamber of Secrets being opened that he was trying to warn me about. Ron thinks that Dobby is the Malfoy’s house-elf and they are the ones behind the Chamber being opened. Do you think that Draco could be the Heir?”

 

“I don’t know, Harry. But Dumbledore said something odd last night. He said it wasn’t a question of who had opened the Chamber, but how. I don't know what he meant by that, but he definitely knows something that he isn’t sharing with anyone. But until the Headmaster chooses to share we must do our best without that information. I will investigate Draco, and the other Slytherin students.”

 

“Hermione suggested that we could make a Polyjuice potion and disguise ourselves to talk to Draco in the Slytherin common room.”

 

“You and Hermione probably could brew a Polyjuice potion if you could get the ingredients together but I would rather if you didn’t do that without supervision. I will investigate Draco but if I’m not satisfied with what I can discover than I will provide you with the necessary potion and help you gain access to the common room. Please, do not try to get information out of Draco yourselves until then.”

 

“Ok, Dad. I’ll tell Ron and Hermione.”

 

Professor Snape checked that the hallway was clear and then shooed Harry away to go eat some lunch.

 

The next Saturday, a package arrived for Hermione while they were at breakfast. The package, brought by a school owl, turned out to be a copy of ‘Moste Potente Potions’. Inside the book was a note that simply said:

 

3 o’clock

my office

 

At 3 o’clock on the dot Hermione knocked on the door to Professor Snape’s office, Harry and Ron beside her. When Professor Snape opened the door, Hermione launched into speech.

 

“Professor, I had a question about the essay you assigned. I read the textbook but I still seem to be missing something. Could you please go over it with me?”

 

“If I must, Granger. You might as well come in.”

 

Snape led the three students through his office into a small potions lab.

 

“You will brew the Polyjuice Potion in here. I presume that you have read through the instructions?”

 

“Yes, sir.” Hermione responded.

 

“Then you may begin. You will find that all the needed ingredients are here. I will remind you that this potion will take awhile to make, it is much more complex than anything you have attempted in class.”

 

“I know, sir. I figure that it will take at least a month to brew properly, since the fluxweed has to be picked at the full moon and the lacewings have got to be stewed for twenty-one days.”

 

“Very good, Granger.”

 

Harry and Ron started preparing the ingredients for the potion under Hermione’s direction while Snape watched them carefully.

 

As the Christmas holidays approached, the Polyjuice potion was almost done. They just needed to wait for the right opportunity to use it. When they had learned that Draco was going to be staying at Hogwarts for the Christmas Holidays, the plan came together. Professor Snape would offer some extra tutoring to a few appropriate Slytherin students during the holidays. Ron and Hermione would visit Harry and they would Floo back to the school on an afternoon when Snape was tutoring and take the potion.

 

After they made their plans, Professor Snape had some news.

 

“Professor Lockhart is starting a Dueling Club, the first meeting is tonight in the Great Hall. I would suggest that you all join. You may find it useful in the future.”

 

“Lockhart is running it? It’s going to be rubbish.” Harry said.

 

“I think it will go better than you think. I plan on assisting Gilderoy with the Club.”

 

“That’s brilliant! In that case, we’ll definitely be there.”

 

At eight o’clock that evening Harry and his friends joined the other interested students in the Great Hall. Harry joined in the Slytherin’s cheer after Snape and Lockhart’s demonstration duel. He really enjoyed seeing his dad blast Lockhart into a wall. Lockhart quickly lost control of the club after he paired the students up to duel each other but nothing of significance happened until Lockhart called for a couple of students to demonstrate how to block unfriendly spells. Harry ended up facing off against Draco with Lockhart attempting to show him how to block a spell. Harry rolled his eyes as Lockhart managed to drop his wand, demonstrating the defensive spell.

 

Harry faced Draco and prepared to duel.

 

_ Malfoy raised his wand quickly and bellowed, “Serpensortia!” _

 

A long black snake shot out of the end of Draco’s wand and fell heavily on the floor between them. Harry calmly watched as the snake raised itself, ready to strike. There were screams as the crowd backed away from the snake.

 

“Don’t move, Potter,” said Snape lazily, apparently enjoying the sight of Harry standing motionless, eye to eye with an angry snake. He, of course, knew that Harry was in no danger since he was a Parselmouth “I’ll get rid of it. …”

 

_ “Allow me!” shouted Lockhart. He brandished his wand at the snake and there was a loud bang; the snake, instead of vanishing, flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Enraged, hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward Justin Finch-Fletchley and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike. _

 

Harry reacted without thinking.

 

“Stop,” he commanded the snake.

 

Harry knew that he was speaking in Parseltongue, although to him it still felt like he was using English. He ignored the shocked reactions around him as the snake came to a stop and turned in his direction.

 

“Come to me,” he called, kneeling to meet the snake as it slithered to him.

 

He ran his hands over the snake’s smooth, soft scales. “You’re a real beauty,” he crooned to the snake, letting it slide up his arm and over his shoulders.

 

Snape stepped forward, waved his wand, and the snake vanished in a small puff of black smoke. Harry pouted at his dad.

 

“I wanted to keep him,” he whined.

 

“Snakes are not on the approved list, Potter, especially venomous ones.”

 

As Harry became aware of an ominous muttering all around the wall, he belatedly realized his mistake. Soon everyone would know that he was a Parselmouth. He had already heard of rumours that he was the Heir of Slytherin, this would just confirm them in people’s minds. When Ron tugged on the back of his robe, Harry went with him gratefully. At least his friends hadn’t pulled away from him like the other students in the hall.

 

When they reached the empty Gryffindor common room, Harry collapsed in an armchair and looked at his friends.

 

“You’re a Parselmouth!” Ron said. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

 

“It didn’t really come up and it’s not exactly something I want to spread around.” Harry groaned, “Now everyone is going to be convinced that I’m Slytherin’s descendant aren’t they?”

 

Hermione spoke up, “Salazar Slytherin lived about a thousand years ago. For all we know, you could be.”

 

Harry glared at her. “You’re not exactly helping, Hermione. How bad did it look? Do you think anyone is going to think about the fact that I called the snake away from Justin?”

 

“I don’t know, Harry. You were speaking Parseltongue, no one could understand what you were saying. It was creepy,” Ron responded

 

“You would think that the fact that the snake didn’t attack Justin, and came over to me instead, would be enough.”

 

“You would think so but you know how wizards feel about Parselmouths. It didn’t help that you wanted to keep the deadly snake that had nearly attacked someone.”

 

“I’ve wanted a snake ever since I found out I could talk to them and that one was a beauty. I could have kept it from hurting anyone. Professor Snape didn’t have to get rid of it.”

 

“Yes, he did, Harry,” Hermione said tartly. “Keeping a giant venomous snake wouldn’t help your reputation and I thought that you didn’t want everyone to think that you’re the Heir of Slytherin.”

 

“I suppose you’re right.” Harry sighed, “It was a nice snake, though.”


	8. Spying on Slytherins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another student is petrified and Harry and Ron spy on Draco over the Christmas break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are direct quotes from the books.

Harry had hoped that he could talk to Justin during Herbology the next day but the class was canceled because of the storm that had swept in. He paced the common room until Hermione lost patience with him and told him to go find Justin if he wanted to talk to him so badly. Harry decided to head to the library to see if the Hufflepuff was there.

 

Harry wasn't even sure why he wanted to talk to Justin so much. After all there was no reason for the other boy to think Harry was trying to hurt him, he had called the snake away from him after all, but Harry couldn't stop thinking about how terrified Justin had been. Harry had liked the Hufflepuff when they talked during their first Herbology lesson of the year and he didn't like the thought of Justin being scared of him. He especially didn't like the thought that Justin might think that he was in danger because he had let Harry know that he was a Muggleborn during that conversation.

 

Justin wasn't in the library but some of his friends were. Harry eavesdropped on their conversation and found that Ron was right. None of them seemed to realize that Harry was trying to save Justin when he called the snake to him. They were only focused on the fact that he was a Parselmouth and that he had liked the snake. Since Justin was apparently staying hidden in the Hufflepuff common room, Harry decided to leave a message for him with his friends. He walked over to the table of Hufflepuffs.

 

_“Hello,” said Harry. “I’m looking for Justin Finch-Fletchley.”_

 

_The Hufflepuffs’ worst fears had been confirmed. They all looked fearfully at Ernie._

 

_“What do you want with him?” said Ernie in a quavering voice._

 

“I wanted to see how he was doing after his scare at the Dueling Club last night,” said Harry. “I thought it would help if I told him what really happened.”

 

“We saw what happened,” Ernie said. “We were all there.”

 

“So you saw me call the snake away from Justin, right?”

 

“All I saw was you cuddling with a bloody enormous, venomous snake, after you threatened Justin with it.” said Ernie stubbornly.

 

“I wasn’t threatening Justin,” Harry said, feeling frustrated. “ It was that idiot, Lockhart, who set the snake on Justin with his botched spell. I called the snake off of Justin and kept it away from everyone else.”

 

“But you wanted to keep it. Who knows what you planned to do with it,” said Ernie. _“And in case you’re getting any ideas,” he added hastily, “I might tell you that you can trace my family back through nine generations of witches and warlocks and my blood’s as pure as anyone’s, so -”_

_“I don’t care what sort of blood you’ve got!_ I don’t have anything against Muggleborns. My mother was a Muggleborn for Heaven’s sake!”

 

_“I’ve heard you hate those Muggles you live with.” said Ernie swiftly._

 

“What’s that got to do with it! The Dursleys are awful people but most Muggles aren’t like that! I know lots of Muggles who are great people!” Harry groaned, “What’s the use. You can believe what you want but please tell Justin what I said about what happened.”

 

Harry left the library and wandered the halls for a while. He ran into Hagrid who was carrying a dead rooster. Hagrid told him that he was looking for Dumbledore’s permission to put a charm around the hen house because that was the second rooster killed that term. After talking to Hagrid, Harry headed back towards his dorm to pick up his books for Transfiguration.

 

In a dark corridor, where the torches had been extinguished by a strong draft blowing through a loose windowpane, Harry tripped headlong over Justin Finch-Fletchley, who had been petrified. Next to Justin was an even more chilling sight, Nearly Headless Nick, floated there, immobile, black and smoky, rather than his usual pearly-white.

 

As Harry got to his feet he noticed a line of spiders scuttling as fast a they could away from the bodies. Harry was standing there panicking when Peeves came out of a nearby door. The poltergeist noticed Justin and Nick and flipped out, screaming, _“ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!”_

 

Soon the hall was filled with students flooding out of the classrooms. Professor McGonagall came running and quickly took control of the confusion. She used her wand to set off a loud bang, which restored silence and then ordered everyone back to their classes. Once the hall was cleared of students Justin was carried to the hospital wing by Professor Flitwick and Professor Sinistra while McGonagall gave Ernie a large fan with instructions to waft Nearly Headless Nick up the stairs. This left just Harry and Professor McGonagall standing in the hall.

 

McGonagall led Harry to a large and extremely ugly stone gargoyle which proved to conceal the entrance to Dumbledore’s office. The office was empty when they got there so Professor McGonagall left Harry there with instructions to wait. The Headmaster’s office was extremely interesting but Harry couldn’t enjoy it properly. He was too preoccupied with wondering why he was there.

 

Just before Dumbledore arrived Harry had a shock when the Headmaster’s bird burst into flame. Harry quickly realized that it was a Phoenix and watched with interest as it flared up until there was nothing left but a pile of ash on the floor. Soon after Dumbledore entered his office, a tiny, wrinkled newborn bird poked its head out of the ashes.

 

_“It’s a shame you had to see him on Burning Day,” said Dumbledore, seating himself at his desk. “He’s really very handsome most of the time, wonderful red and gold plumage. Fascinating creatures, phoenixes. They can carry immensely heavy loads, their tears have healing powers, and they make highly faithful pets.”_

 

Harry noticed the emphasis Dumbledore put on the word faithful but wasn’t sure what the old wizard was getting at. Dumbledore settled himself in his chair and fixed Harry with his penetrating, light-blue stare but before he could speak another word, the door of his office flew open with an almighty bang and Hagrid burst in. He still carried the dead rooster in his hand.

 

_“It wasn’ Harry, Professor Dumbledore!” said Hagrid urgently. “I was talkin’ ter him seconds before that kid was found, he never had time, sir -”_

 

_Dumbledore tried to say something, but Hagrid went ranting on, waving the rooster around in his agitation, sending feathers everywhere._

 

_“- it can’t have been him, I’ll swear it in front of the Ministry o’ Magic if I have to -”_

 

_“Hagrid I -”_

 

_“- yeh’ve got the wrong boy, sir, I know Harry never -”_

 

_“Hagrid!” said Dumbledore loudly. “I do not think that Harry attacked those people.”_

 

_“Oh,” said Hagrid, the rooster falling limply at his side. “Right. I’ll wait outside then, Headmaster.”_

 

_And he stomped out looking embarrassed._

 

“If you don’t think it was me, why am I here?” asked Harry.

 

“I want to talk to you, Harry,” said Dumbledore, his face somber.

 

Dumbledore considered him, the tips of his fingers together.

 

_“I must ask you, Harry, whether there is anything you’d like to tell me,” he asked gently. “Anything at all.”_

 

Harry thought of Draco shouting, “You’ll be next, Mudbloods!” and of the Polyjuice Potion simmering away in his dad’s private Potions Lab. Then he thought of the disembodied voice he had heard twice and the revelation of his ability to speak Parseltongue at the Dueling Club.

 

“Nothing you don’t already know about, sir. Since I presume you’ve already heard about me being a Parselmouth. I didn’t want to hurt anybody last night. I just wanted to stop the snake from attacking Justin and to get a closer look at it.” Harry looked pleadingly at the headmaster.

 

“Of course, you weren’t trying to hurt anyone, my dear boy. Although, I hope that you now realize that a deadly snake is not an appropriate pet for a school,” Dumbledore answered. “You’d better get back to class now, Harry.”

 

Harry was glad that it was almost time for the Christmas Holidays. He was tired of people acting scared of him, when they passed him in the corridors. Fred and George helped with their clowning around. They had taken to marching ahead of Harry in the corridors, shouting, “Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through…”

 

Percy and Ginny did not find the twin’s antics amusing but Harry appreciated them. It was good to know that there was someone who thought the idea of him being Slytherin’s heir was ludicrous.

 

Soon it was time to catch the Hogwarts Express to head back to London. Harry, Ron and Hermione found a compartment together on the crowded train and they were soon joined by Neville. They played Exploding Snap and happily discussed their holiday plans. Neville seemed surprised that the three were going to spend the holidays with Lupin and Snape but didn’t say anything about it. When they finally made it to London, they said goodbye to Neville and went to find Moony.

 

“Do you remember how you found out that I lived with Professor Snape last year, Ron? The expression on your face when I called him Dad was hilarious.” Harry said as they came into the house.

 

“That was a good prank,” said Ron with a grin. “I had a hard time believing it at first. You and The Professor certainly have everyone fooled.”

 

The next few days were a nice break from the worry and business of the school term. They played both wizard games and muggle ones, and practised dueling with Moony’s help. After their first dueling session turned into a lesson on defensive spells Ron said what they were all thinking.

 

“I wish you could be our Defense Against Dark Arts teacher, Moony. You’d do a lot better job than Professor Lockhart.”

 

On Christmas Day Harry and Ron were woken up by Hermione bursting into their bedroom.

 

“Happy Christmas,” she cried, seating herself on the side of Ron’s bunk. “I’ve been up for half an hour and I’ve already opened my presents. Thank you for the books.”

 

Harry sat up and reached for the pile of presents at the foot of his bed. His dad and Moony came to the door to watch as he started opening the gifts. Hagrid had sent him a tin of treacle toffee, Ron had given him a book called _Flying with the Cannons_ , and Hermione had bought him a luxury eagle-feather quill. Mrs. Weasley had sent a new hand-knit sweater and a large plum cake. Moony gave Harry a comprehensive book about Dark Creatures and Severus gave him a book on Occlumency.

 

“Study that well, Harry, we’ll be starting lessons in Occlumency this summer. It’s about time that you learned more about how to protect your mind from others.” Snape then turned to the other two children. “You should consider learning Occlumency as well. I would be willing to give you lessons.”

 

After a leisurely morning they headed over to the Brown’s house for Christmas Dinner. The family remembered Ron from the year before and they were happy to meet Hermione. Like the previous year, Harry and his friends were quickly drawn into the game the Brown’s grandchildren were playing that lasted until dinner was on the table. That evening Harry fell asleep quickly. It had been a good day and just what he needed after such a stressful fall term.

 

With the most recent attack, there was hardly anyone left at Hogwarts for Christmas, but Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were still going to be there. That meant that the plan to spy on Draco was still in effect. Professor Snape had arranged to spend some time tutoring Crabbe and Goyle on Boxing day so that Harry and Ron could take their place. Since so few students had stayed, Hermione was going to have to sit this one out. After a lunch of leftovers from the party the day before, Professor Snape and the three friends took the Floo to Snape’s office. Snape gave Harry and Ron two glass vials that held hair he had obtained from Crabbe and Goyle and they retreated into his Potions lab with Hermione, when they heard a knock on the office door.

 

Hermione ladled large dollops of the potion into two glasses that were ready for them in the lab. Harry and Ron each put the hair from their vial into their goblet and watched as the potion hissed and frothed madly. Both potions changed colour, Goyle’s was the khaki colour of a booger, and Crabbe’s a dark, murky brown. Hermione used a spell that Snape had taught her to resize Ron and Harry’s robes and shoes to fit Crabbe and Goyle and then the two boys drank their potions.

 

The potion tasted awful and felt worse but it worked. Soon Harry had transformed into Goyle while Ron became the spitting image of Crabbe. The two boys stared at each other.

 

_“This is unbelievable,” said Ron._

 

_“We’d better get going,” said Harry, loosening the watch that was cutting into Goyle’s thick wrist._ “We don’t have a lot of time.”

 

Hermione wished them luck as they headed out of the lab through Snape’s quarters. Soon they were standing in front of a stretch of bare, damp stone wall.

 

“Are you sure this is the right place,” said Ron nervously.

 

“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” responded Harry. “ - pureblood.”

 

A stone door concealed in the wall slid open and the two boys entered. To their relief Draco was sitting in the Slytherin common room in a high backed chair some distance from the fire. Harry and Ron went and joined him. It turned out to be easy to get Draco talking about the attacks that had been happening but was clear that the Slytherin knew nothing about who the Heir was or what was attacking students. Harry found it interesting that Draco’s father knew so much about the last time the Chamber was opened, considering that it was well before his time. Ron was pleased when Draco let slip where his family kept their Dark Arts stuff hidden. He decided to let his Dad know about that as soon as possible.

 

Harry and Ron hurried out of the Slytherin common room just in time. By the time they were back with Hermione in the Potions lab they were back to normal. Hermione transfigured their clothes back to their original size and then they waited for Professor Snape to finish with his tutoring session.

 

Back at home the two boys told recounted their conversation with Draco to the others. After they discussed what they had learned, Moony had Harry go back over everything that had happened that term. Especially, the events of the morning that Justin and Nick were attacked. When Harry happened to mention his conversation with Hagrid about the dead roosters Moony became thoughtful.

 

“I feel like I have all the pieces to the puzzle but I’m just not putting them together. I need to do some more research.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Moony going to figure out what monster lurks in the Chamber of Secrets?


	9. Tom Riddle's Diary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry finds Riddle's diary and Moony figures out what the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are direct quotes from the books.

The rest of the holidays passed peacefully. When they got back to Hogwarts, Harry realized, to his relief, that the rumours about him being the Heir of Slytherin had died down somewhat, although Ernie Macmillan was still convinced of Harry’s guilt. Harry didn’t have a lot of time to worry about it though, because his dad seemed to be intent on burying them with homework. Harry wondered if this was ploy to keep him out of trouble.

 

One evening, shortly after the new term started, Harry and Ron were heading to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom to set up the portable potions lab for Neville’s tutoring session the next morning, when they heard a commotion. Filch was raging about a flood of water that was covering the floor beside Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. Harry headed into the bathroom to find out what had gotten Myrtle so upset.

 

In the bathroom the two boys found Myrtle crying, hidden down her usual toilet. When Harry asked her what was upsetting her she told them that someone had thrown a book at her while she was in her toilet. The book that had been flushed down Myrtle’s toilet was now sitting on the floor, as wet as everything else in the bathroom. Ron reminded Harry that the book could be dangerous but Harry decided to pick it up anyways. It turned out to be a ordinary looking diary that had once been owned by a T. M. Riddle.

 

_Harry peeled the wet pages apart. They were completely blank. There wasn’t the faintest trace of writing on any of them, not even 'Auntie Mabel’s birthday', or 'dentist, half-past three'._

 

The diary didn’t seem to be very interesting, except for one detail. It was fifty years old. That was when the Chamber of Secrets had been last opened and that was too much of a coincidence for Harry’s liking. He pocketed the diary and then the two boys hurried back to the common room.

 

The next morning Harry showed Hermione the diary and told her the story of how they had found it.

 

_“Oooh, it might have hidden powers,” said Hermione enthusiastically, taking the diary and looking at it closely._

 

_“If it has, it’s hiding them very well,” said Ron. “Maybe it’s shy. I don’t know why you don’t chuck it, Harry.”_

 

“It’s dated fifty years ago, the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. I’m going to take it to The Professor as soon as I have a chance. It might help us figure out what’s going on, if we can figure it out.”

 

“Let me see it.” said Hermione. “Maybe it’s invisible ink.”

 

She tried various methods to reveal what had been written in the diary, to no avail. As Hermione worked on the diary none of the three noticed a terrified looking Ginny sitting nearby, staring at the book in Hermione’s hand. Ginny continued to sit, frozen in place, as Harry stuck the book back in his bag and headed off to meet Neville.

 

That night Harry pulled the book from his bag and looked at it again. He turned the pages idly wondering why he found the blank diary so interesting. Even the name on it, T. M. Riddle seemed significant somehow, as though it belonged to a friend he had half forgotten. He sighed and pushed the book away from him and pulled out his quill. He still had an essay to finish for his dad and he didn’t have much time left to write it. As he pulled out his essay he accidently held the quill above the diary and a drop of ink fell onto it’s pages. To his astonishment the ink vanished, as if it had been sucked into the page. Forgetting to be cautious in his excitement, Harry pulled the book towards him again and wrote, “My name is Harry Potter.”

 

_The words shone momentarily on the page and they, too, sank without trace. Then, at last, something happened._

 

_Oozing back out of the page, in his very own ink, came words Harry had never written._

 

_“Hello, Harry Potter, my name is Tom Riddle. How did you come by my diary?”_

 

Harry wrote back and eagerly waited for Tom’s response. In the course of their conversation, Tom told Harry that he had he had caught the person who had opened the Chamber in his fifth year. When Tom offered to show Harry his memory of the night he had stopped the attacks, Harry hesitated but agreed. Harry watched as Tom talked to Headmaster Dippet and had a short confrontation with a younger Dumbledore. Then he saw Tom confront a teenage Hagrid and accuse him of being behind the attacks, chasing off the creature that Hagrid had been hiding in a dungeon room.

 

After emerging from the memory, Harry thought furiously. Could Hagrid have been the one to open the Chamber of Secrets all those years ago. He knew how much the gameskeeper loved creatures that others found monstrous. If he had heard of monster being cooped up in the castle he would of gone to great lengths to catch a glimpse of it. But something didn’t add up, Hagrid would never want to hurt anyone.

 

The next day, Harry told Ron and Hermione about what the diary had shown him and they spent a long time discussing what he had seen. None of them wanted to believe that Hagrid had been the one behind the Chamber being opened.

 

_“Riddle might have got the wrong person,” said Hermione. “Maybe it was some other monster that was attacking people. …”_

 

_“How many monsters d’you think this place can hold?” Ron asked dully._

 

“Quite a few, I would imagine,” Harry said. “Especially if Hagrid had acquired that thing I saw somewhere else and brought it into the castle, like he did with the dragon egg. This place is huge. You saw how many secret passages were on the map and those are just the ones that the Marauders found.”

 

“Do you think we should go and ask Hagrid about it all?” Hermione asked hesitantly.

 

_“That’d be a cheerful visit,” said Ron. “Hello, Hagrid. Tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?”_

 

“Well, why not?” Harry said. “I mean we won’t phrase it like that but why shouldn’t we ask Hagrid for his side of the story? It’s only fair to hear what he has to say before we make up our minds about him. Especially since I should tell The Professor about Tom’s diary and everything he told me.”

 

After some more discussion Ron and Hermione agreed with Harry and the three friends headed off to see Hagrid. When they got there Ron and Hermione looked at Harry, waiting for him to bring up the subject.

 

“Hagrid,” said Harry carefully, “I was wondering if you mind telling us why you were expelled from Hogwarts? It just seems odd that you were expelled and then allowed to stay here as Groundskeeper.”

 

Hagrid looked uncomfortable, “Well, durin’ my third year I met a traveller in Hogsmeade who give me an acromantula egg. I hatched ‘im in a cupboard, an’ fed ‘im table scraps. Named ‘im Aragog. Then Riddle found out ‘bout ‘im, said he was the monster attackin’ everyone. But Aragog would never have hur’ anyone. Luckily he escaped and is livin’ in the Forest now. I even found ‘im a mate.”

 

Ron stared at Hagrid, horrified, “You had a giant spider living in the castle. No wonder they expelled you,” he said faintly.

 

“Thank you for telling us about Aragog, Hagrid,” said Hermione. “We’d better get back to the castle, we have some work to do.”

 

“Ron, Aragog obviously wasn’t the monster from the Chamber of Secrets, if Hagrid raised him from an egg,” pointed out Harry, after they had left Hagrid’s hut. “Hagrid, was expelled for something he didn’t do.”

 

“Right, and Aragog can’t be attacking anybody now, if he’s living in the Forest,” agreed Hermione.

 

As they entered the Gryffindor common room, Harry suddenly looked upset. “Oh Merlin, I’ve got to bring Riddle’s diary to The Professor and tell him what I did. I’m going to be in so much trouble. The Professor’s not going to be happy about me talking to an unknown magical artifact. I should have known better,” he groaned.

 

“Yes, you should have,” said Hermione. “Still you weren’t hurt and at least we now know more about what happened.”

 

“Yeah, I guess, but I’m still not looking forward to the lecture. I’ll get the diary from our dorm and go talk to The Professor this evening, after supper. It will be easier to sneak away then, anyways.”

 

After supper Harry ran up to his dorm and found the contents of his trunk scattered everywhere. His bedclothes had been pulled off his four-poster and the drawer had been pulled out of his bedside table, the contents strewn over the bed.

 

Ron came into the dormitory as Harry slowly walked over to his bed. “Someone’s been looking for something. Is anything missing?”

 

Harry started picking up all his things and throwing them back into his trunk. To his relief he quickly found his cloak and the Marauder’s Map. It was only as he threw the last of his school books back into the trunk that he realized what wasn’t there.

 

“Riddle’s diary’s gone,” he told Ron.

 

“What?”

 

They hurried out of the dorm and found Hermione waiting for them in the common room. Hermione looked aghast at the news.

 

_“But - only a Gryffindor could have stolen - nobody else knows our password -”_

 

 _“Exactly,” said Harry._ “I need to go see The Professor right away.”

 

Harry, Ron and Hermione hurried down to the dungeons, concealed under Harry’s Invisibility Cloak. Soon they were in Professor Snape’s office telling him about Riddle’s diary and Hagrid’s expulsion. Snape frowned when Harry admitted that he had communicated with the diary and had let Tom pull him into a memory but he did not interrupt their story. Just as they finished the fire flared green and Lupin stepped through, carrying a cage with a rooster in it.

 

“Good, you’re all here,” Moony said urgently. “Harry, do you think that the voice you heard earlier might have been talking in Parseltongue?”

 

“It might have been. That would explain why I was the only one to hear it,” Harry replied. “Do you think I was hearing a snake moving around the castle?”

 

“I think that you were hearing a basilisk.”

 

“Of course,” exclaimed Hermione. “I should have thought of that. That’s why the spiders were leaving the castle, wasn’t it?”

 

“That’s right. It is said that spiders will flee before a basilisk because it is their mortal enemy.”

 

“I bet nobody was killed because they didn’t look directly at the basilisk,” said Hermione thoughtfully. “Colin saw it through his camera. Justin must have seen it through Nearly Headless Nick and Nick couldn’t die again.”

 

“What about Mrs. Norris?” asked Ron.

 

“The water on the floor from Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. I bet Mrs. Norris only saw the reflection in the water.” Harry said.

 

“One of the few things that can kill a basilisk is a rooster’s cry so I brought one with me,” Moony told them. “Now we just need to figure out how to find it.”

 

“What do we know about the Chamber?” said Hermione.

 

“Well, we know that it was opened fifty years ago and several people were petrified and one killed before the attacks stopped again,” Harry said. “Tom said that everything was covered up and that the story given out was that the girl died in a freak accident but Dumbledore must know something about it. After all he was teaching at the school at the time.”

 

“Dumbledore knows something that he isn’t telling,” grumbled Snape, “The old coot always likes to play his cards very close to his chest. He did say that the name of the girl who died was Myrtle Warren.”

 

The three students looked at each other in wild surprise.

 

“Moaning Myrtle!” exclaimed Harry. “We never did ask her how she died.”


	10. The Basilisk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ginny is taken down into the Chamber and Harry goes after her with his dads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All italics are direct quotes from the book.

Severus and Remus accompanied Harry and his friends to the second floor girls bathroom. With a basilisk roaming the school they weren’t about to let the children go anywhere on their own. When they turned into the corridor leading to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom they stopped short. On the wall was another message, written right underneath the first one.  _ ‘Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.’ _

 

Hermione was the first to speak. “What - What do you think it means?”

 

“It means that the monster has taken a student into the Chamber,” said Professor Snape, grimly.

 

“I wonder who it is?” said Ron.

 

“Does it matter,” demanded Harry. “We need to rescue them. Come on!”

 

Harry pushed open the door to the bathroom and found Moaning Myrtle sitting on the tank of the end toilet.

 

_ “Oh, it’s you,” she said when she saw Harry. “What do you want this time?” _

 

_ “To ask you how you died,” said Harry. _

 

_ Myrtle’s whole aspect changed at once. She looked as though she had never been asked a more flattering question. _

 

_ “Ooooh, it was dreadful,” she said with relish. “It happened right in here. I died in this very stall. I remember it so well. I’d hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. I different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then -” Myrtle swelled importantly, her face shining. “I died.” _

 

_ “How?” said Harry. _

 

_ “No idea,” said Myrtle in hushed tones. “I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away. …” _

 

“So the entrance to the Chamber must be in this bathroom,” said Hermione, “and you need to be a Parselmouth to open it.”

 

_ “Where exactly did you see the eyes?” said Harry. _

 

_ “Somewhere there,” said Myrtle, pointing vaguely toward the sink in front of her toilet. _

 

Harry hurried over to it. It looked like an ordinary sink but after examining it carefully Harry saw a tiny snake scratched on the side of one of the copper pipes.

 

“I think this is it,” Harry said.

 

_ “That tap’s never worked,” said Myrtle brightly as he tried to turn it. _

 

“Do you think you can get it to open?” asked Moony. “It may respond to Parseltongue.”

 

Harry thought about what it felt like to speak Parseltongue. He’d only managed to speak it when he’d been face to face with a real snake. He stared at the tiny engraving, trying to imagine it was real.

 

“Open up,” he said.

 

Nothing happened. “That was English,” said Ron helpfully.

 

Harry tried again. He moved his head and the candlelight made the engraved snake look like it was moving.

 

_ “Open up,” he said. _

 

_ Except the words weren’t what he heard; a strange hissing had escaped him, and at once the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Next second, the sink began to move; the sink, in fact, sank, right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into. _

 

“Well that’s done it,” said Moony briskly. “You three stay here and Severus and I will go in and see if we can find the student and bring her back. The rooster should ensure that we are safe from the basilisk.”

 

“You’re going to need me, too,” Harry said. “What if there are more obstacles before you get to the Chamber. You may need someone who can speak Parseltongue.”

 

Remus and Severus exchanged glances. Neither of them wanted to put Harry at risk but he was right.

 

“Ok, Harry, you can come with us but you must stay close and listen to me. Do you understand?” said Snape.

 

“Yes, Dad.”

 

“As for you two …” Snape looked at Ron and Hermione.

 

“We’ll go find the headmaster and get help,” said Hermione.

 

She pulled a small mirror out of her pocket. “We can look around corners with this so that we are only risking petrification, at worst.”

 

“That sound like a good plan,” said Remus. “The basilisk is most likely in the Chamber, anyways, so they should be safe and we might need the backup. Let’s go.”

 

Remus slid down the pipe first, using a charm to slow his descent. Severus followed him and then Harry said goodbye to his friends and lowered himself into the pipe.

 

After a long slide down a endless, slimy, dark, pipe, Harry felt the pipe level out and he shot out, only to be caught by a spell, cast by his dad, who lowered him to the damp floor of a stone tunnel.

 

“Are you alright, Harry?” asked Remus as he cleaned the slime off of Harry with a wave of his wand.

 

“I’m fine. We must be miles under the school.”

 

“Lumos!” Severus muttered and lifted his wand to illuminate the tunnel they stood in. “Remus, you go first.”

 

Remus also lit his wand and the three wizards set off along the tunnel, their footsteps slapping loudly on the wet floor.

 

The tunnel was quiet and they did not see any sign of the monster, other than the bones of small animals scattered around on the floor, until they came across a giant snake skin lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that shed it must of been at least twenty feet long. They carefully made their way past the snakeskin and continued. Finally they rounded yet another bend in the tunnel and found their way blocked by a solid wall on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with great, glittering emeralds.

 

“You were right, Harry,” said Remus as he studied the wall. “It’s a good thing that you came with us.”

 

Remus stepped aside and Harry approached the wall. He cleared his throat and the emerald eyes seemed to flicker.

 

_ “Open,” said Harry, in a low, faint hiss. _

 

_ The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, and the halves slid smoothly out of sight. _ Harry stepped back again and Remus stepped forward. He walked inside the Chamber with his lit wand raised in one hand and the caged rooster in the other, Severus and Harry close behind.

 

They found themselves standing at the end of a very, long dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support an unseen ceiling, casting long, black shadows through the odd greenish gloom that filled the place. Remus carefully moved forward alert for any movement that might indicate the presence of the basilisk, ready to cause the rooster to crow. Behind him came Severus and Harry, all three ready to shut their eyes at the smallest sign of movement.

 

As they drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue as high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall. The statue was of a ancient wizard with a long beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard’s sweeping stone robes. Lying face down between the two enormous stone feet of the statue was a small, black robed figure with flaming-red hair.

 

“Ginny!” yelled Harry, and he would have sprinted to her, but he was firmly held back by his dad’s hand on his shoulder. “Ginny - don’t be dead - please don’t be dead -” Harry muttered as he stared at the girl lying immobile on the floor.

 

Snape let go of Harry, with a command for him to stay with Remus and strode forward to carefully turn Ginny over. After checking her over, he looked back.

 

“She’s alive but drained of energy. I’m going to try to see if I can revive her.”

 

As Severus raised his wand to cast the spell a soft voice spoke. “She won’t wake.”

 

A tall black haired boy was leaning against a pillar watching. He was strangely blurred around the edges, but there was no mistaking him.

 

_ Tom - Tom Riddle?”  _ said Harry.

 

Tom nodded, staring fixedly at Harry.

 

_ “She’s still alive,” said Riddle. “But only just.” _

 

_ “Are you a ghost?” Harry said uncertainly. _

 

_ “A memory,” said Riddle quietly. “Preserved in a diary for fifty years.” _

 

_ He pointed towards the floor near the statue’s giant toes. Lying open there was the little black diary Harry had found in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom.  _ Severus looked between the diary and Riddle then turned his attention back to Ginny, frowning in thought.

 

“Harry, we need to get Ginny out of here. Remember the basilisk.” Snape said, as he carefully lifted Ginny into his arms.

 

“The basilisk won’t come until it is called,” said Riddle calmly.

 

“And how do you know that, young man?” said Snape levely.

 

Riddle ignored him and continued to speak to Harry.  _ “I’ve waited a long time for this, Harry Potter. For the chance to see you. To speak to you.” _

 

“I suppose Ginny told you about him when she wrote in your diary,” said Snape. “You should know better than to listen to the ramblings of a starstruck preteen. I can assure you that Potter is nothing special. He is a mediocre wizard at best, even for a twelve year old.”

 

“What’s wrong with Ginny,” Harry suddenly demanded. “What have you done to her.”

“Little Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul was exactly what I wanted. …  _ I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her …” _

_ “What d’you mean?” said Harry. _

 

_ “Haven’t you guessed yet, Harry Potter?” said Riddle softly. “Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the Serpent of Slytherin on  _ two _ Mudbloods, and the Squib’s cat.” _

 

_ “No,” Harry whispered. _

 

“All of this is very interesting and will be useful in helping us figure out what, precisely, you have done to Miss Weasley and how to reverse it, young man, but I’m afraid we must be going.” said Snape walking over to Harry.

 

“Not so fast,,”said Riddle. _ “Harry, twice - in your past, in my future - we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. How did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk,” he added softly, “The longer you stay alive.” _

 

“What do you mean?” said Harry. “I’d never met you before I found your diary.”

 

“Oh, but you have,” said Riddle softly, “ _ Voldemort is my past, present and future, Harry Potter … _ ”

 

_ He pulled Ginny’s wand from his pocket and began to trace it through the air, writing three shimmering words: _

 

_ tom marvolo riddle _

 

_ Then he waved the wand once, and the letters of his name rearranged themselves: _

 

_ i am lord voldemort _

 

_ “You see?” he whispered. “It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father’s name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother’s side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Harry - I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!” _

 

Harry’s face distorted with anger. “You’re not the greatest sorcerer in the world. You never were! Even at the height of your power you were afraid to face Dumbledore, everyone says so, and then you were defeated by my mother’s sacrifice. You couldn’t kill me because my mother died to save me.  _ My common Muggle-born mother,” he added, shaking with rage. “She stopped you killing me. And I’ve seen the real you, I saw you last year. You’re a wreck. You’re barely alive. That’s where all your power got you. You’re in hiding. You’re ugly, you’re foul -” _

 

_ “So you’re mother died to save you. Yes, that’s a powerful counter-charm. I can see now … there is nothing special about you, after all. I wondered, you see. There are strange likenesses between us, after all. Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. We even look something alike … but after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me. That’s all I wanted to know.” _

 

Riddle’s twisted smile widened again.

 

“Now, Harry, I’m going to teach you and the Professor here a little lesson. Let’s match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against the famous Harry Potter and his teacher …”

 

Riddle turned towards the stone face of Slytherin and began to hiss - but Harry understood what he was saying. …

 

_ “Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four.” _

 

Slytherin’s gigantic stone face moved. His mouth opened wider, and wider, to make a huge black hole. Something stirred inside the statue’s mouth, slithering up from its depths.

 

Harry and Severus closed their eyes and Remus stepped from the shadow of the stone column he was standing beside, with his eyes clamped shut, and raised the rooster, shaking the cage to make it crow. Something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber and Riddle cried out.

 

“No, it can’t be! I had all the roosters killed!” he raised his stolen wand. “Well, no matter I will take care of you myself.”

 

“Harry, quick the diary!” Snape said urgently, pulling a pair of dragonskin gloves out of a pocket and tossing them to him.

 

Harry pulled on the gloves, and leapt forward to grab the diary off of the floor. He then ran over to the corpse of the basilisk, that had fallen into the Chamber when the cock crowed, and impaled the diary on one of its fangs.

 

_ There was a long, dreadful, piercing scream. Ink spurted out of the diary in torrents, streaming over Harry’s hands, flooding the floor. Riddle was writhing and twisting, screaming and flailing and then - He had gone. _

 

Ginny moaned and stirred in Snape’s arms. Harry and Remus hurried over to her as she opened her eyes and looked around. She looked bemusedly up at Snape, who was cradling her gently in his arms and then back at Harry.

 

“Harry - oh, Harry  - it was me, Harry - but I - I swear I d-didn’t mean to -”

 

“Hush, child,” Snape murmured gently. “We know that you didn’t have any control over what was happening to you. That diary contained a very powerful and dark magic and Riddle has always been very persuasive. He has fooled much older wizards than you.”

 

Ginny looked up at him tearfully. “Do you mean that I won’t be expelled, Professor? I-I’ve looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and I-I don’t want to have to leave. What would Mom and Dad say?”

 

“You won’t be expelled, I promise you, but we need to get you to Madam Pomfrey.” Snape led them out of the Chamber and back down the tunnel, to the pipe that led back up to the bathroom.  

 

“How are we going to get back up this?” asked Harry, looking up the long, dark pipe.

 

Just then they heard the sound of music. As they all looked around trying to figure out where it was coming from the music got louder. Then as the music reached such a pitch that they felt it vibrating throughout their bodies a crimson bird, the size of a swan appeared, shining in the darkness of the tunnel. It was Dumbledore’s phoenix, Fawkes.

 

Fawkes swooped past Harry and fluttered in front of him, his beady eyes bright in the dark. He waved his long golden tail feathers and Harry looked uncertainly at him.

 

“Grab hold of Fawkes’ tail, everyone,” said Moony. “The Phoenix is capable of carrying great weights. He obviously is willing to carry us all back up to the castle.”

 

They did as Moony had said and flew upwards through the pipe. Soon they found themselves hitting the wet floor of Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom where a very worried Ron and Hermione were waiting for them, along with Dumbledore and most of the teaching staff.


	11. Lockhart Exposed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Basilisk is defeated and Riddle's diary destroyed. Only a few loose ends to tie up before the end of the school year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All italics are direct quotes from the books.
> 
> So we've reached the end of second year. I'm in the planning stages for third year and I hope to get the first chapter written and posted by the end of next week.

As Snape and Lupin emerged from the Chamber’s secret entrance with the two children, they were met with a barrage of questions.

 

“Remus had figured out that the monster was a Basilisk and we found Potter and his friends wandering the halls when we were on our way to inform Albus. Potter insisted that he had figured out where the entrance to the Chamber was and that he would be able to get us inside it. That’s when we discovered that Miss Weasley had been taken and Remus decided that we needed to go after her immediately. Any more explanations can wait until after we get Miss Weasley to the hospital wing,” snapped Professor Snape, as he strode from the bathroom, still carrying Ginny in his arms.

 

Harry and Moony hurried after him with the other’s following right behind them. When they got to the hospital wing Snape laid Ginny on the bed and turned to Madam Pomfrey.

 

“She’s suffering from exhaustion, both physical and magical I would imagine. She will also need to be examined for the after effects of being exposed to a dark artifact for the last several months.”

 

“What artifact is that?” asked Dumbledore. “I would like to know how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania.”

 

_“It was this diary,” said Harry quickly, showing it to Dumbledore. “Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen.”_

 

_Dumbledore took the diary from Harry and peered keenly down his long crooked nose at its burnt and soggy pages._

 

_“Brilliant,” he said softly, “Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen.”_

 

He looked over at the gathered teachers who were looking utterly bewildered.

 

_“Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving school … traveled far and wide … sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations, that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognizable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever handsome boy who was once Head Boy here.”_

 

“But what has Miss Weasley got to do with - with - him?” said McGonagall.

 

_“His d-diary!” Ginny sobbed. “I’ve b-been writing in it, and he’s been w-writing back all year -”_

 

“And how did you come by this diary, Ginny?” asked Dumbledore.

 

“I found it inside one of the books Mum got me. I th-thought someone had just left it there and forgotten about it -”

 

“That’s enough of that,” said Madam Pomfrey firmly. “Stop upsetting my patient and leave me to work in peace.”

 

She started shooing everyone out of the room but Harry spoke up quickly, before he could be made to leave.

 

“Is Ginny going to be ok? And what about Justin and Colin and Nick, and Mrs. Norris? How long before you can unpetrify them?”

 

“Ginny will be fine,” Snape answered. “Mrs. Pomfrey and I will look after her. As for the others, I’m afraid that the mandrakes won’t be ready for a while yet. I will brew the potion to restore them as soon as I can.”

 

“But can’t we get mandrakes from somewhere else? Why do we need to wait for the school’s to be ready?”

 

“Mandrakes are expensive and hard to get but since we only need enough for four doses maybe we can manage it. What do you think, Albus?”

 

“I will see what I can do. If I can find any mandrake available I should be able to get a reasonable price if I promise to send them some of our crop when it is ready.”

 

McGonagall accompanied Harry, Ron and Hermione out of the hospital wing.

 

“You had better get back to your common room. Mr. Weasley, I’m sure that your brother’s would appreciate hearing that Miss Weasley is safe.”

 

Remus followed Dumbledore back to his office. When they got back there he confronted the older wizard.

 

“Professor, that was more than just a memory that Riddle put into that diary. I’ve never seen anything like it, but there is no way that a memory charm would have been able to do what we saw. The diary didn’t just possess Ginny it was draining her to bring Riddle to life.”

 

Dumbledore suddenly looked old and worn. “You’re right, Remus. That diary didn’t just contain a memory of Tom Riddle. If I’m correct it held a piece of his soul. The diary was a horcrux.”

 

“So that’s why You-Know-Who didn’t die when his curse backfired on him. He had hidden a piece of his soul in a diary when he was a teenager. But it’s destroyed now, does that mean that You-Know-Who is gone for good?”

 

“I hope so but I doubt it. I don’t think Voldemort would have left his diary in Lucius’ hands if it was his only horcrux. I’m sure that there are more out there and they will be heavily protected.”

 

“You think that he made more than two horcruxes?” Remus was visibly shaken at the thought.

 

“I’m afraid that it is a distinct possibility. I plan to start to look for the others as soon as I can. I need to learn everything I can about Voldemort so that I can figure out what he may have used to create his horcruxes and where he might have hidden them.”

 

“If you need help, Severus and I are available. This shouldn’t be all on your shoulders.”

 

“Thank you, Remus. I appreciate that.”

 

The next morning Harry had trouble concentrating on his school work. It felt odd to attend classes like usual, after everything that had happened. Harry and Hermione joined the Weasleys, who were visiting Ginny in the hospital wing, during their lunch break.

 

“Dumbledore announced that he had located a supply of mandrakes, this morning at breakfast. Professor Snape will start brewing the potion as soon as the mandrakes arrive and he thinks that it should be ready by tomorrow. Everyone will be awake soon.” Harry told Ginny as soon as he sat down beside her bed.

 

“That’s great,” said Ginny. She seemed to be in a much better mood than she had been the night before.

 

“I can’t believe I ever thought that Professor Snape was mean,” Ginny continued. “He was so kind last night. He spent ever so long with me, making sure that I was alright and that there weren’t any after effects from what happened. He really understood what it was like. … even the things I didn’t want to talk about.”

 

“Professor Snape is pretty great, alright,” agreed Harry.

 

“How can you say that, Harry?” exclaimed Fred. “The greasy git hates you!”

 

“Yeah,” agreed George. “He’s given you more detentions than anyone else, even us!”

 

“Fred, don’t talk about your teacher like that!” scolded Mrs. Weasley.

 

“Sorry, Mom, but Snape really does hate Harry. It’s not like he tries to hide it.”

 

“That’s just because my father was a right git to him when they were at Hogwarts together,” Harry said. “But Professor Snape still saved me from Quirrel last year, and he saved Ginny from Riddle this year. So, I can live with him trying to make my life miserable in his classes. After all I give as good as I get, I’m sure I earned most of those detentions.”

 

Harry carefully did not look at Ron and Hermione, who both seemed to have been seized by a fit of giggles.

 

“Harry, I’m sure that Professor Snape doesn’t hate you, even if he is a little too strict with his students,” Mrs. Weasley protested.

 

The next day Ginny was released from the hospital wing and joined her brothers at lunch.

 

“Professor Snape brought the Mandrake Restorative draught to the hospital wing this morning. Everyone’s awake now,” she informed them.

 

Sure enough, Harry could see Justin at the Hufflepuff’s table, and Colin was calling out a greeting from where he was sitting with the other Gryffindor first years. Then Dumbledore stood up and announced that they would be having a feast that evening to celebrate. Everyone cheered and Harry went to his first class of the afternoon in a very good mood.

 

That good mood didn’t survive the afternoon. At their DADA class, Lockhart hauled Harry up to the front of the class as soon as he entered the room.

 

“Harry, Harry, Harry, you just had to run out and face a basilisk. You should have come to me, first. I’ve known it was a basilisk for ages now and was just waiting for the right moment to hunt it down.”

 

Lockhart then spent the rest of the lesson describing to the class how he would have defeated the monster, using Harry as a stand in for the basilisk. By the end of the class Harry was fuming.

 

“That’s it! I’ve had enough of that man!”

 

Harry stormed off. Ron and Hermione found him in the common room writing furiously, occasionally checking his notes about Lockhart’s books as he wrote. He then folded the parchment he had been writing on around the timeline he had developed from the books and stuck it in an envelope. Ignoring his friends questions about what he was doing, Harry headed of to the owlery with his letter.

 

Harry seemed to have recovered from his temper by the time they had reached the Great Hall for the feast. Everyone was in a high spirits as the feast started. Justin hurried over from the Hufflepuff table to apologize for suspecting Harry, while Colin took pictures of everything. Hermione talked to Percy and between the two of them they arranged tutoring sessions for Colin to catch him up on everything he missed while he was petrified. As the feast finally wound to a close Dumbledore announced that Harry, Ron and Hermione had won two hundred points for Gryffindor for their contributions to defeating the basilisk. Harry didn’t really think that was fair, considering that they hardly did anything, it was really all his dad’s and Moony’s doing, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. At least Dumbledore wasn’t able to spring the points on them at the last minute this year.

 

After the feast the school gradually returned to normal. There was only one thing that was bothering Harry. He decided to talk to his dad about it the next time he had to serve detention. It turned out that he didn’t have to wait long. At the next day’s Potions class, Snape gave Harry detention for breathing too loudly. Harry was a little taken aback by this but he wasn’t about to protest.

 

When Harry arrived at his dad’s office to serve his detention on Saturday, he was handed a bulging bag and led off to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom by his dad who was also carrying a large bag.

 

“I intend to harvest what I can of the basilisk's corpse and I need you to get me into the Chamber.” Snape explained as they walked.

 

Harry and his dad entered the pipe behind the secret entrance and made their way to the Chamber where the basilisk lay. Severus first milked the corpse to retrieve as much as the venom as he could. He then started harvesting various body parts that had value as potion ingredients, which was a very messy task. Harry assisted by handing his dad the tools he required and packed the various containers, spelled to maintain the freshness of their new contents, back into the larger of the two bags. As he packed the bag he noticed that it obviously had an extending charm on it as it fit a lot more than it should have been able to.

 

As they worked Harry told his dad worries about what was going to happen to Dobby.

 

“I know he didn’t really go about it the right way but he was trying to help me and i can’t just leave him where he is. His wizarding family is definitely mistreating him and he is unhappy there. There must be something that I can do but I don’t even know who he serves. Ron thinks it must be the Malfoys, of course.”

 

“I got Draco to tell me about his family's house-elves by telling him that I was thinking about getting one for myself. And I was able to confirm that Dobby is one of them. Don’t worry about Dobby, Harry. I will get him away from Lucius.” Snape straightened from the basilisk corpse and cleaned himself and Harry off with a wave of his wand. “I think that’s all I can use. Let’s go.”

 

Packing up the tools, which Severus had also cleaned off with a spell, they set off back towards the pipe that led up into the castle. On the way they stopped by the shed skin and Snape packed it up into yet another bag that he pulled out of his pocket. Soon they were levitating back up the pipe, into Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom again.

 

That evening Snape paid Malfoy Manor a visit.

 

“You really should treat your servants better, Lucius.” Severus said as he entered the wizard’s office. “Then maybe your house-elf would actually show some loyalty.”

 

“What are you talking about?” snapped Lucius.

 

Snape smirked at him ignoring the other man's anger. He had been expecting to find Malfoy in a temper after his latest scheme had failed so badly.

 

“The Potter brat has been telling everyone about the house-elf that attempted to warn him of the danger at Hogwarts this year. A house-elf that apparently knew entirely too much about the Chamber of Secrets. It's only a matter of time now, before Dobby is traced back to you. … Unless of course I take him off your hands before that happens.”

 

“And why would you be willing to risk being accused in my place?” asked Lucius suspiciously.

 

“I still have Dumbledore convinced of my loyalty to his cause,” Severus sneered. “I will be able to convince him of my innocence and he will keep Potter and Arthur Weasley in line for me. I find myself in need of a servant and Dobby will do nicely.”

 

“Are you sure? As you pointed out he is hardly loyal.”

 

“I have my own ways of ensuring his loyalty. Although it hardly matters for the task I have in mind. He just needs to do as he is told.”

 

“Fine,” Lucius snapped. “Dobby!”

 

The house-elf appeared, cowering before his master.

 

“Dobby is here, Master.”

 

“I no longer have need of your services, Dobby. Severus is your master now.”

 

“Dobby has new master?” the house-elf gasped.

 

“Yes, elf. I am your master and you must do what I say from now on.”

 

“Yes, Master.” Dobby bowed to Snape.

 

Severus turned back to Malfoy. “As usual, it has been a pleasure. I will continue to keep an eye on Draco for you and I am pleased to report that he has been doing well in his classes this year. I expect that you will find his exam results to be an improvement over last year’s. Come, Dobby.”

 

Severus disapperated, followed by Dobby.

 

Dobby was pleased to learn that he now belonged to the family of Harry Potter. Snape was able to provide plenty of work for him to do, cleaning up after the Potions classes and helping keep the Potion ingredients organized and properly stored. He soon started to look much better as he was now happy and well treated.

 

Soon a rumour started to circulate around the school about Lucius Malfoy getting sacked as a school governor. He had apparently used the basilisk attacks as an excuse to attempt to get Dumbledore removed as headmaster and his methods of convincing the other governors to agree to Dumbledore’s removal had not sat well with them. Particularly when the basilisk was found and killed and everyone restored to full health shortly after Malfoy had begun his campaign against the headmaster. Harry felt bad for Draco when he saw how sulky he looked as the rumours spread. In the end though, he thought that is was probably good for Draco to see that his father’s scheming could backfire. Draco really needed to learn to think for himself, rather than just parroting what his father told him.

 

Things settled back down to normal after that, with a brief bout of excitement around Valentine’s day. Lockhart had decided to decorate the Great Hall for the occasion and brought in some dwarves, wearing golden wings and carrying harps, to deliver valentines for the students. Harry found it amusing when he witnessed a dwarf deliver a valentine to his dad at lunch. It was pretty clear from the rather awful poem that Ginny had sent the valentine and Harry was glad that she hadn’t decided to send him one as well.

 

Soon Hermione was creating revision timetables for Ron, Harry and Neville, as well as continuing to tutor Colin in all the material he had missed. As the Easter holidays approached the second years were given something else to think about. The time had come for them to choose their electives for third year. There was a lot of discussion amongst the second years about what subjects to choose. Harry of course talked to his dad and Moony about his options.

 

“I wouldn’t advise taking Divination,” said Severus. “As far as I know Sybill has only made one actual prophecy and she does not strike me as a very good teacher. I doubt you would learn anything useful in that class. Arithmancy on the other hand can also give you a glimpse into the future, but it is a much more rigorous field. It is a required subject for curse-breakers. ”

 

“Care of Magical Creatures is an interesting class,” Moony commented. “I think you would enjoy it. I found Ancient Runes to be a fascinating study and very helpful in researching older forms of magic for my studies in Defense.”

 

“You obviously wouldn’t get anything out of Muggle Studies,” continued Severus. “You already know more about Muggles than you could learn in that class, just from growing up in a Muggle neighbourhood and attending school there.”

 

In the end Harry decided to take Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy. Ron was also taking Care of Magical Creatures as well as Divination, which he had heard was an easy course. Hermione signed up for everything.

 

Harry barely had time for anything but Quidditch and homework as the Gryffindor team prepared for their match with Hufflepuff. Although he did continue to set aside time for tutoring Neville in potions. The day of the match was bright and sunny with a light refreshing breeze. Harry managed to catch the snitch, winning the game and the cup for Gryffindor. Wood was beside himself over Gryffindor winning the Quidditch cup for the first time in years.

 

A few days after the final Quidditch match, an owl dropped a bundle of paper in front of Harry at breakfast. It turned out to be that day’s edition of the Daily Prophet with an accompanying letter. Harry read the letter and then quickly unfurled the paper to read the lead article. He then nudged Ron and showed him the newspaper.

 

**Lockhart Exposed**

**Darling Authors Daring Deeds Done By Others**

  


Following a tip from an unnamed source, this reporter discovered that Gilderoy Lockhart, famous author and a recipient of the Order of Merlin 3rd Class, is not the hero that he depicts himself as in his books. Allegedly, Lockhart tracked down witches and wizards who had defeated dark creatures and obliviated them, claiming their daring deeds as his own. Late yesterday evening, Aurors went to Lockhart’s place of employment, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, to arrest the celebrity. When confronted, Lockhart allegedly attempted to obliviate an Auror and was subdued with a full body bind. He is currently being held while waiting for trial. At the time of publication a trial date had yet to be set.

 

“Lockhart’s been arrested!” Ron exclaimed. “I wonder who their unnamed source is.”

 

Harry grinned and Ron’s eyes widened. “You didn’t …”

 

“Remember that letter a wrote after Lockhart went on about how he could have defeated the basilisk. I sent my evidence that Lockhart couldn’t possibly have done everything that he says he did to the Daily Prophet. I guess they’ve been investigating ever since and this is the result. I have a letter here from Rita Skeeter, the reporter who wrote the article, thanking me for the tip.”

 

The noise in the hall swelled as the students who subscribed to the Daily Prophet spread the news among their friends. Professor Dumbledore stood and made an announcement.

 

“As you have just learned, Professor Lockhart will no longer be teaching Defense Against Dark Arts for us. Professor Snape has agreed to take over the fifth and seventh year classes. All other Defense Against Dark Arts classes are cancelled for the rest of this school year.”

 

Quite a few of the teachers joined in the cheering that greeted this news.

  
Soon it was time for exams and then the year was over and they were heading home. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, Ginny and Neville got a compartment to themselves. Fred and George were rather disgruntled because they had discovered that Snape was going to be visiting them over the summer to check up on Ginny.

 

“I don’t know why you’re so upset. Professor Snape’s not that bad,” Harry said.

 

“That’s easy for you to say,” grumbled Fred. “You don’t need to see him over your summer vacation.”

 

Ron and Hermione burst out laughing. Harry grinned and reminded Fred that he was probably going to be visiting Moony during the summer again. He then changed the subject by asking Neville how he had done on his Potions exam. Neville had actually gotten a decent mark, despite having Professor Snape standing over him during the practical exam, so he was in a very good mood. After discussing their exam marks and their summer plans for a while they played Exploding Snap until the Hogwarts Express pulled into Kings Cross station. Harry made sure that Ron had his telephone number before leaving the train to find Moony and head home.


End file.
